After winning the 1,500 freestyle race, the Team USA swimmer now shares the record with Jenny Thompson for the most Olympic gold medals in women’s swimming.
On Saturday, Team USA's top female stars will compete for gold on land, air and sea. Well, not quite the sea, but a pool...
Katie Ledecky will be diving in to compete in the 800m freestyle final in swimming.
Simone Biles will take to the air during the vault individual final in gymnastics.
Sha'Carri Richardson will be on foot when she attempts to advance to the 100m final in track and field.
It marks the only day of the 2024 Paris Olympics that arguably the three most prominent American women at the Games compete in their respective sports on the same day. And all three are attempting to win a medal, making it a potential golden age for the United States in Paris.
Ledecky and Biles, long considered the GOAT in their sports, already have cemented their statuses in Paris as some of the most-decorated American Olympians of all time. Richardson, competing for her first Olympic medal, is hoping she is on track — quite literally — to do the same.
Richardson made her Olympic debut on Friday in the women's 100m preliminary round, easily winning her heat in 10.94 seconds to qualify for the semifinals.
Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics
Watch all the action from the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games live on Peacock
It was a blazing start for the 24-year-old, who was not permitted to compete in the Tokyo Olympics after qualifying in 2021 due to a one-month suspension for testing positive for marijuana. She has since dominated in the 100m, winning gold at the 2023 world championships and clocking the top time at U.S. Olympic trials.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
She now looks to reach the Olympic podium, the three-tiered celebratory platform visited regularly by Ledecky and Biles.
Ledecky has made three trips there already in Paris, winning gold in the 1,500m freestyle, bronze in the 400m freestyle and silver in the 4x200m freestyle. That brought the 27-year-old's career Olympic medal count to 13, breaking the record for most by a U.S. woman in Olympic history.
Biles is not far behind. In Paris, the 27-year-old has won gold in the all-around and team final, giving her six career gold medals and nine Olympic medals overall to become the most-decorated U.S. Olympic gymnast.
While Ledecky is competing in her final event of the 2024 Games on Saturday, Biles will still be looking to add to her total when she competes in the balance beam and floor exercise individual finals. Reaching the podium in each would give her the second most medals all time in women's gymnastics behind the Soviet Union's Larisa Latynina, who had 18, including nine gold.
So, yes, Saturday will combine star power with stars and stripes, domination with redemption, and golden opportunity with gold medals.
Here's how to watch Biles, Ledecky and Richardson go for gold by land, air and pool.
When is Simone Biles' next event?
Biles will compete in the women's gymnastics vault individual final on Saturday at 10:20 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. Biles is also set to compete in the women's balance beam final on Monday, Aug. 5 at 6:35 a.m. ET and the women's floor exercise final on Monday, Aug. 5 at 8:20 a.m. ET.
When is Katie Ledecky's next event?
Ledecky looks to medal in her fourth and final event of the Paris Olympics when she competes in the women's 800m freestyle on Saturday at 3:28 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
When is Sha'Carri Richardson's next event?
Richardson will compete in the women's track & field 100m semifinal on Saturday at 1:50 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock. If she advances there, she will compete for gold just hours later. The Dallas native is also set to compete in the women's 4x100-meter relay, which begins Thursday, Aug. 8.
