USA’s Kate Douglass won her first ever Olympic gold on Thursday in the 200-meter breaststroke final.
The New York native trailed by 0.23 seconds after the first turn, but took a small lead at the midway point, and never looked back.
Her lead was still under two-tenths of a second at the final turn, but she separated herself from the pack in the final 50 meters, winning by 0.36 seconds with a time of 2:19.24.
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Kate Douglass of Team USA competes in the women’s 200m breaststroke semi-final at the Paris La Défense Arena during the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games in Paris, France. (Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
It’s Douglass’ second medal in Paris, as she was also a part of the silver medal 4×100-meter freestyle team earlier in the games.
Dogulass’ win was also the second gold taken home by United States athletes on Thursday, as Simone Biles won the gymnastics all-around earlier in the day for her record sixth gold medal.
Kate Douglass of Team United States competes in the Women’s 200m Breaststroke Semifinals on day five of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Paris La Defense Arena on July 31, 2024 in Nanterre, France. (Andy Cheung/Getty Images)
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Douglass joins Torri Huske, Katie Ledecky, and the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay team as USA’s gold medal winners in swimming.
Douglass will be back in action on Friday as she kicks off the quest for another gold, this time in the 200m individual medley – she earned bronze in the event in Tokyo three years ago, and the final will be Sunday.
The 22-year-old said the wait felt a bit longer following the silver medal earlier this week.
“I was definitely getting antsy waiting around, but I knew good things were coming,” Douglass said.
But, she said she knew she would win as long as she executed her plan, which she seems to have done.
Kate Douglass of United States of America competes in the swimming 200m Breaststroke Women Semifinals during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at La Defense Arena. Paris (France), July 31st 2024. (Deepbluemedia/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
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It’s the fourth gold won by USA swimming in Paris (tying Australia), and the 19th overall (which leads second-place Australia by nine).
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