Cavaliers Win Gold, Silver and Bronze on Day Eight of Paris 2024

PARIS – Virginia swimmers won three Olympic medals and set a world record on Saturday (August 3) at the Paris La Defense Arena in Paris, France.

Senior Gretchen Walsh won gold as a member of the Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay, alumna Kate Douglass won silver in the 200 IM, and Paige Madden won bronze in the 800 Free.

Virginia swimmers have won eight medals in total heading into the final day of competition on Sunday (Aug. 4): two golds, five silvers and a bronze.

In the relay, Ryan Murphy led off swimming the backstroke for the Americans, followed by Nic Fink on the breaststroke. Walsh swam the third leg, a 100-meter butterfly, taking the water with the team in second place and pulling the U.S. into the lead during her 55:18 in the pool. Torri Huske swam the anchor leg, posting a 51.88 in the freestyle to touch the wall at 3:37.43. The mark broke the previous world record of 3:37.58 set by Great Britain at the Tokyo Olympics.

This is Gretchen Walsh’s third medal at the Olympic games, adding to her silvers in the 100 Fly and the 4×100 Free Relay. It was also her second record set as she set the Olympic record in her semifinal swim of the 100 Fly.

Madden finished third in the 800 Free, dropping five seconds from her personal best time to clock 8:13.00, a Virginia long course record time. Katie Ledecky won the race in 8:11.04, with Ariarne Titmus of Australia taking silver with 8:12.29.

This is Madden’s first individual Olympic medal. She is a two-time medalist in relays, taking silver in the 4×200 Free Relay in both Tokyo and earlier this week in Paris.

Douglass posted a time of 2:06.92 in the 200 Individual Medley, finishing second behind Canada’s Summer McIntosh, who won the race in an Olympic-record time of 2:06.59. Kaylee McKeown of Australia took the bronze with a 2:08.08. Douglass was the bronze medalist in the 200 IM in Tokyo.

This is Douglass’s third medal of the games, with a gold in the 200 Breast and a silver in the 4×100 Relay.

In a heartbreaking turn in the 200 IM, grad student Alex Walsh hit the wall third with a time of 2:07.06 and seemed to have won bronze. However, she was disqualified after a video review showed that she was flipped too far on her stomach going into the backstroke-to-breaststroke turn instead of finishing the leg completely on her back.

Gretchen Walsh’s relay was her third swim of the day. She posted a 54.37 in the morning prelim of the 50 Free and then swam the second-fastest time in the evening session semifinal, 24.17, to qualify for Sunday’s final.

In another morning preliminary, junior Emma Weber and Douglass both swam for the U.S. in the 4×100 Medley, helping the team qualify fourth for the final with a time of 3:56.40. Weber swam for the second time in Paris after competing in the 100 Breast earlier in the week. She posted a 1:07.39 in that stroke’s leg during the relay. Douglass anchored the relay with a 52.71 in the freestyle. The women’s 4×100 Medley Relay Final is the last swimming event of the Olympic Games.

Sunday’s action begins at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Running Medal Tally: 8
Gold (2): 200 Breaststroke (Kate Douglass), Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay (Gretchen Walsh)
Silver (5): 100 Fly (Gretchen Walsh), 200 IM (Kate Douglass), 4×100 Free Relay (Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh), 4×200 Free Relay (Paige Madden)
Bronze (1): 800 Free (Paige Madden)

Medals by Swimmer:
Gretchen Walsh: 1 Gold, 2 Silvers
Kate Douglass: 1 Gold, 2 Silvers
Paige Madden: 1 Silver, 1 Bronze

American Records
Kate Douglass, 200 Breast, 2:19.24
4×100 Free Relay (Douglass, G Walsh), 3:30.20

Olympic Records
100 Fly (G Walsh), 55.38
Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay (G Walsh), 3:37.43

World Records
Mixed 4×100 Medley Relay (G Walsh), 3:37.43