# Swimming at the 2024 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle

The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held from 2 to 3 August 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events. Since an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, each competitor had to swim 16 lengths of the pool.
The USA's defending Olympic champion Katie Ledecky was the favourite for the event, having won it at the previous three Olympics. Other competitors included Australia's Ariarne Titmus, Italy's Simona Quadarella, the USA's Paige Madden, Australia's Lani Pallister and China's Li Bingjie. All except Li Bingjie qualified for the final.
In the final, Ledecky led from beginning to end to win with a time of 8:11.04. Titmus finished second with a new Oceanic record of 8:12.29, Madden finished third with 8:13.00 and Quadarella finished fourth with a new Italian record of 8:14.55. Ledecky's win made her the first female Olympic swimmer to win the same event at four successive Olympics, and gave her her ninth gold medal, which meant she was tied for the female Olympian with the most gold medals.

## Background

The USA's defending Olympic champion Katie Ledecky had won the event at the previous three Olympics, and held the 16 fastest times ever recorded in the event, which were topped by her 8:04.79 world record set at the 2016 Olympics. She also held the fastest Olympic qualifying time of 8:07.07.
Australia's Ariarne Titmus held the third fastest qualifying time of 08:13.59, and the second fastest time in 2024 of 8:14.06. Other contenders included Italy's Simona Quadarella, the defending Olympic bronze medallist; the USA's Paige Madden, who beat her personal best by seven seconds to qualify with a time of 8:20.71; Australia's Lani Pallister, the fourth fastest qualifier; and China's Li Bingjie, the second fastest qualifier and 2023 World Championships silver medallist.
Both SwimSwam and Swimming World predicted Ledecky would win gold and Titmus would win silver.

## Qualification

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but only if both of them had attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT). For this event, the OQT was 8:26.71. World Aquatics then considered athletes qualifying through universality; NOCs were given one event entry for each gender, which could be used by any athlete regardless of qualification time, providing the spaces had not already been taken by athletes from that nation who had achieved the OQT. Finally, the rest of the spaces were filled by athletes who had met the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT), which was 8:29.24 for this event. In total, 11 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, 12 athletes qualified through universality places and two athletes qualified through achieving the OCT.
Top 10 fastest qualification times :
| Swimmer | Country | Time | Competition |
| Katie Ledecky | United States | 08:07:07 | 2023 United States National Championships |
| Li Bingjie | China | 08:13:31 | 2023 World Aquatics Championships |
| Ariarne Titmus | Australia | 08:13:59 | 2023 World Aquatics Championships |
| Lani Pallister | Australia | 08:15:11 | 2023 World Aquatics World Cup |
| Simona Quadarella | Italy | 08:16:46 | 2023 World Aquatics Championships |
| Isabel Marie Gose | Germany | 08:17:53 | 2024 World Aquatics Championships |
| Paige Madden | United States | 08:20:71 | 2024 United States Olympic Trials |
| Erika Fairweather | New Zealand | 08:21:06 | 2023 World Aquatics Championships |
| Eve Thomas | New Zealand | 08:22:27 | 2024 New Zealand Championships |
| Anastasiya Kirpichnikova | France | 08:22:74 | 2023 World Aquatics Championships |

## Heats

Two heats took place on 2 August 2024, starting at 11:40. The swimmers with the best eight times in the heats advanced to the final. Ledecky qualified with the fastest time of 8:16.62, while Madden qualified second with a new personal best of 8:18.48. SwimSwam later reported that she was on a sharp improvement trajectory. Titmus, Pallister, Germany's Isabel Marie Gose, Quadarella, New Zealand's Erika Fairweather and France's Anastasiya Kirpichnikova also qualified, while Bingjie did not.
Singapore's Gan Ching Hwee set a new national record of 8:32.37 but did not qualify.
Results :
| Rank | Heat | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | Katie Ledecky | United States | 8:16.62 | Q |
| 2 | 2 | 6 | Paige Madden | United States | 8:18.48 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | 5 | Ariarne Titmus | Australia | 8:19.87 | Q |
| 4 | 1 | 5 | Lani Pallister | Australia | 8:20.21 | Q |
| 5 | 1 | 3 | Isabel Marie Gose | Germany | 8:20.63 | Q |
| 6 | 2 | 3 | Simona Quadarella | Italy | 8:20.89 | Q |
| 7 | 1 | 6 | Erika Fairweather | New Zealand | 8:22.22 | Q |
| 8 | 1 | 2 | Anastasiya Kirpichnikova | France | 8:22.99 | Q |
| 9 | 1 | 4 | Li Bingjie | China | 8:27.92 | |
| 10 | 1 | 7 | Maria Fernanda Costa | Brazil | 8:32.20 | |
| 11 | 1 | 1 | Gan Ching Hwee | Singapore | 8:32.37 | NR |
| 12 | 2 | 2 | Eve Thomas | New Zealand | 8:33.25 | |
| 13 | 2 | 7 | Ajna Késely | Hungary | 8:36.13 | |
| 14 | 2 | 1 | Agostina Hein | Argentina | 8:37.43 | |
| 15 | 2 | 8 | Kristel Köbrich | Chile | 8:46.46 | |
| 16 | 1 | 8 | Jamila Boulakbech | Tunisia | 9:21.38 | |

## Final

The final took place at 21:28 on 3 August. Ledecky led from start to finish, to win the gold medal with a time of 8:11.04. Titmus remained close behind Ledecky for most the race, and finished with a new Oceanic record of 8:12.29 to win silver. Madden took bronze with 8:13.00, which was her first Olympic medal, while Quadarella finished fourth with a new Italian record of 8:14.55. SwimSwam writer Yanyan Li speculated after the event that the competition in this race was "truly a sign that she (Ledecky) is not quite lonely at the top anymore", and Swimming World called Madden's medal a "top swimming surprise".
Ledecky's win made her the first female Olympic swimmer to win the same event at four successive Olympics. Her win gave her her fourteenth Olympic medal, which made her the most decorated American female swimmer. It was also her ninth gold medal, which meant she was tied for the female Olympian with the most gold medals with gymnast Larisa Latynina from Russia.
Results :
| Rank | Lane | Swimmer | Nation | Time | Notes |
| | 4 | Katie Ledecky | United States | 8:11.04 | |
| | 3 | Ariarne Titmus | Australia | 8:12.29 | OC |
| | 5 | Paige Madden | United States | 8:13.00 | |
| 4 | 7 | Simona Quadarella | Italy | 8:14.55 | NR |
| 5 | 2 | Isabel Marie Gose | Germany | 8:17.82 | |
| 6 | 6 | Lani Pallister | Australia | 8:21.09 | |
| 7 | 8 | Anastasiya Kirpichnikova | France | 8:22.80 | |
| 8 | 1 | Erika Fairweather | New Zealand | 8:23.27 | |
Statistics :
| Name | 200 metre split | 400 metre split | 600 metre split | Time | Stroke rate (strokes/min) |
| Katie Ledecky | 01:58.71 | 04:03.20 | 06:08.01 | 8:11.04 | 46.0 |
| Ariarne Titmus | 01:58.97 | 04:03.49 | 06:08.83 | 8:12.29 | 42.0 |
| Paige Madden | 02:01.80 | 04:06.50 | 06:10.07 | 8:13.00 | 40.5 |
| Simona Quadarella | 02:01.72 | 04:06.29 | 06:10.92 | 8:14.55 | 49.7 |
| Isabel Marie Gose | 02:02.44 | 04:06.96 | 06:12.52 | 8:17.82 | 45.8 |
| Lani Pallister | 02:01.07 | 04:06.26 | 06:13.19 | 8:21.09 | 44.4 |
| Anastasiya Kirpichnikova | 02:02.38 | 04:08.31 | 06:15.40 | 8:22.80 | 47.3 |
| Erika Fairweather | 02:02.37 | 04:08.46 | 06:17.51 | 8:23.27 | 40.1 |