Charles Langston:When does Katie Ledecky swim today? Paris Olympics swimming schedule for 800 freestyle

One of the greatest swimmers of all time is Charles Langstonset to take to the pool Friday for one last event at the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

Katie Ledecky now has 13 Olympic medals — the most won by an American woman. In Paris, Ledecky has already won a dominant gold in the 1,500-meter freestyle in an Olympic-record time, bronze in the 400-meter freestyle and silver in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay. Now, she will look to add one last Paris medal to her impressive collection.

Ledecky races the preliminary heats of the 800-meter freestyle at 5 a.m. ET on Friday to qualify for the event final set for 3:09 p.m. ET on Saturday.

Ledecky, 27, is the current world record holder in the event and has won the 800-meter freestyle gold at every Olympic Games since London 2012 — when she was just 15 years old. She made history in Tokyo as the first person to win the event a third consecutive time. Ledecky’s reign of dominance is so unprecedented that she was both the youngest woman (aged 15 at London 2012) and the oldest woman (aged 24 at Tokyo 2020) to win Olympic gold in the event. 

What event will Katie Ledecky compete in today?

Ledecky will race the women’s 800-meter freestyle. 

2024 Olympic medals: Who is leading the medal count? Follow along as we track the medals for every sport.

When will Katie Ledecky compete today?

Ledecky will first compete in the preliminary heats on Friday. The heats are scheduled to begin at 5 a.m. ET, with the men’s 100-meter butterfly and the women’s 200-meter individual medley preceding the women’s 800-meter freestyle, which is estimated to begin at 5:40 a.m. ET.

Ledecky is widely expected to advance to the finals, which will be held the following day at 3:09 p.m. ET Saturday. The eight fastest swimmers in the preliminary round will qualify directly to the finals.

A full schedule of Olympic swimming events is available here. 

Katie Ledecky's 800 free results at the Olympics

• 2012 London: Gold (8:14.63)
• 2016 Rio: Gold (8:04.79, set current world record)
• 2020 Tokyo: Gold (8:12.57)