Photos of Katie Ledecky winning her eighth Olympic gold medal went viral as they showed the incredibly dominant manner in which she achieved this historic victory.
On Wednesday, the 27-year-old won gold in the 1,500-meter freestyle in Paris with an Olympic record time of 15:30.02.
And Ledecky was dominant from the start. The American had a lead of more than three seconds after a quarter of the race and kept her foot on the gas, leaving her opponents in a race for second place.
Near the finish, Ledecky had such a large lead that the cameras during the broadcast had to zoom out to capture the race’s second-fastest swimmer.
The viral footage shows Ledecky swimming back to victory while another swimmer on the other side of the pool has yet to turn around.
Katie Ledecky went viral with photos showing her dominance while winning gold in Paris
While users praised Ledecky in the comments section, one user noted how her dominance has her competitors “fighting for silver.”
Behind Ledecky, France’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova finished with silver and Germany’s Isabel Gose with bronze.
Ledecky also won the event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and is a five-time world champion, with titles in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2022 and 2023.
It was also her twelfth gold medal overall, making her equal with Jenny Thompson and Emma McKeon in Olympic women’s swimming history.
Before Wednesday’s race, Ledecky had won one medal at the Paris Games, having won bronze in the women’s 400-meter freestyle on Saturday.
Ledecky has podiumed in all but one Olympic final, after finishing ninth in the 200-meter freestyle in 2021.
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France’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova won silver and Germany’s Isabel Gose won bronze
Ledecky won gold in the 1,500-meter freestyle with an Olympic record time of 15:30.02
Ledecky earned her eighth Olympic gold medal and twelfth podium finish overall
She hopes to win another gold medal and break the tie with Thompson when she competes in the 800-meter freestyle.
The preliminary rounds start on Friday and the final will take place on Saturday afternoon.
If Ledecky wins this weekend, she will become the first woman to win nine golds in swimming, tying her with Mark Spitz for the second-most gold medals in swimming history.
If she wins a medal, she will be one of two swimmers of any gender to win a total of 13 medals at the Olympic Games.