By: Boya Hu

On July 29th, 2023, Katie Ledecky, a 26-year-old American swimmer, won another gold medal. Now, she has more individual gold medals than Michael Phelps in the World Championships.

Phelps has won in the Olympics, the World Championships, US National Titles, and has broken more world records than any other athlete has. He now holds 23 gold medals, 3 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals, which adds up to 28 medals.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Ledecky has won 10 Olympic medals, she has 7 gold medals, 2 silvers, and 1 bronze. She has also so done something nobody has ever done before: she won 6 gold medals in the same contest! In the World Championships contests, she has won 16 gold medals in total, according to Olympics.com.

During the race, Ledecky swam the track in 8 minutes and 8.87 seconds. That was the seventh quickest she had ever swum, and she was not satisfied with her swim. “I am pretty tough on myself, but I think I have found the balance of being tough on myself, but also having that grace.” Ledecky said. Ledecky had won a silver medal in a 400-meter race in freestyle, and in her 800-meter track she won her 2nd individual gold medal after the 1,500-meter track on Tuesday, according to NPR.

Li Bingjie, a swimmer of China, won a silver medal because she had swum the track in 8 minutes and 13.31 seconds. Ariarane Titmus, presenter of Australia, got a bronze medal for swimming the track in 8 minutes and 13.59 seconds.

“It is fun to leave a meet with your favorite events and I just wanted to leave it all in the pool.” Ledecky said.