New on Sports Illustrated: Katie Ledecky Wins Third Straight Gold in 800m Freestyle

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Ledecky completes the three-peat by holding off Australia's Ariarne Titmus to win her seventh career Olympic gold medal.

Death, taxes and Katie Ledecky winning gold in the 800m freestyle.

Ledecky won gold on Saturday night in the 800m freestyle for the third consecutive Olympics, cruising to victory with relative ease. She finished with a time of 8:12.57, touching the wall 1.26 ahead of the runner-up.

Australia's Ariarne Titmus came in second with a time of 8:13.83, while Italy’s Simona Quadarella came in third at 8:18.35.

The victory gives Ledecky six individual gold medals in her Olympics career, setting a women's record and breaking a tie with Hungary's Krisztina Egerszegi, who swam in the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Games.

Incredibly, Ledecky has now swam the 24 fastest times in the 800m race on record. Her best time is 8:04.79, set at the Rio Olympics in 2016. The fastest time by someone other than Ledecky is actually Titmus's finish in this race, an incredible run of dominance by an athlete in a given event.

Announcers had speculated whether or not Ledecky would keep competing at the 2024 Olympics, a question that Ledecky answered with an emphatic 'yes' in her post-race interview.

Ledecky now has 10 Olympic medals for her career—seven gold and three silver. She's the fourth swimmer in history to win back-to-back-to-back Olympic golds in a single event.

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