The United States continued to add to their medal count at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics on Monday. This included Katie Ledecky winning the silver in the 400m free and Team USA grabbing the gold in the 4×100 freestyle relay.
Ledecky entered the competition as an overwhelming favorite, having won the gold in the 400m free at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She came in strong this time as well, posting her second-best career time (3:57.36), but it wasn’t enough to beat Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in a closely contested showdown. This was Titmus’ first medal in her Olympics debut.
Team USA, on the other hand, didn’t leave any room for doubt in the 4×100 freestyle relay. Caeleb Dressel, who is billed as a successor to the legendary Michael Phelps, propelled Team USA to an early lead in the first leg allowing Blake Pieroni, Bowe Becker, and Zach Apple to finish the job with ease.
En route to winning the competition, which also saw Italy and Australia finishing in the second and third place respectively, Team USA posted the third-best time in history with 3:08.97.
In the first three days of the Olympics, the United States managed to win 14 medals, trailing only China’s coup of 15. The U.S. has seven golds, tied with Japan for most so far, alongside three silver and four bronze medals.
Most gold medals for Team USA came from shooting competitions so far. Amber English took the gold in women’s skeet on Sunday, breaking the Olympics record in the process. Vincent Hancock won his third gold Olympic medal in men’s skeet, while William Shaner was the best in Men’s 10m air rifle.
Lee Kiefer (fencing), Anastasija Zolotic (taekwondo), and Chase Kalisz (swimming) also added to the count.
