Katie Ledecky remains the gold standard in the 800-meter freestyle.

The American swimming star won the 800 free Saturday at the swimming world championships, tracking down Summer McIntosh. The 18-year-old Canadian star was leading after 700 meters before fading and ceding the race to Ledecky, who won in 8:05.62, with Lani Pallister of Australia taking silver (8:05.98) and McIntosh (8:07.29) settling for bronze.

Ledecky said she was not aware she was trailing. She glanced down at at a race-results sheet to confirm it.

“I didn’t know,” she said. “I just knew it was close the whole way. There were times where I thought I was just going to break away. I was just happy I was up there.

“You just never know when you dive what everyone’s tactics are going to be – or what’s going to happen,” she added. “It was fun to just be in that kind of a race. Just try to make small moves just here and there.”

Ledecky, who first won the 800 freestyle at the 2012 Olympics, has not lost in the discipline since. She has now won 23 gold medals at world championships and 30 overall. Add to that nine Olympic gold medals and 14 Olympics medals overall.

McIntosh has won three gold medals in Singapore and was trying for five. She will come up short, though she will be the favorite in Sunday’s 400 individual medley.

Ledecky’s gold medal was one of three won by the United States on Saturday, by far its best performance in what had been a lackluster championships for the team.

Gretchen Walsh earned gold by taking the 50-meter butterfly.

The United States also set the world record in the 4×100 mixed relay on Saturday, clocking 3 minutes, 18.48 seconds in the swim world championships.

The old record was 3:18.83 set in 2023 by Australia. It was only the second world record set in these championships.

The Americans now have eight gold medals. The championships close on Sunday.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.