TOKYO – Three Stanford women's swimmers earned silver medals to highlight an incredible night at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Regan Smith, Katie Ledecky and Brooke Forde walked out of the Tokyo Aquatics Centers with silver medals hung on their necks to bring Stanford's medal count to eight.
Smith won the silver with a lifetime best of 2:05.30 in the 200m fly – her final individual event of this year's Games. The incoming freshman also earned the bronze in the 100m back.
To conclude the night, Katie Ledecky anchored Team USA to a thrilling silver medal in the 4x200m free relay – upsetting heavy favorites, Australia. Ledecky posted the fastest split of the night with a 1:53.76 anchor leg to pull the United States ahead of Australia, despite Ledecky trailing by almost a full body length at the start of the fourth legs. She closed strong to finish just four tenths of a second behind China, as all three medaling teams went faster than the previous world record.
The United States' time of 7:40.73 set a new American record.
Brooke Forde won the first Olympic medal of her career as part of the relay pool. Despite not racing in the final, Forde anchored the United States to the second-fastest time in the prelims (7:47.57) in her Olympic debut.