Frozen swimming: The U.S. swimmers’ mental health and outlook for the next few months at the Olympic Summer Games (and their stories)

On Friday night before a roaring crowd, France’s swimming phenom Leon Marchand, who lives and trains in the U.S., captured his fourth gold medal at these Summer Games.

The emergence of a class of swimmers from Australia, Canada and France has been showing signs of matching theU.S. athletes’ skills.

Ledecky’s win came just moments before a relay team of American men and women seized gold in the 4 by 100 medley finals, narrowly beating a strong Chinese team and setting a new world record.

Three years ago at the Tokyo Games, Finke emerged as the gold medal winner in the 800-meter freestyle and went onto win the gold medal in the same event in Paris.

Carson Foster, another American considered a strong medal contender in Paris, finished in fourth place Friday, out of medal contention in the men’s 200-meter individual medley, an event combining freestyle, back, breaststroke and butterfly.

Both Smith and Dressel talked about shifting their approach to competition, focusing more on mental health and enjoyment of sport. Dressel took eight months away from the sport.

Smith said that she has no control over what her competitors are doing, even though she was disappointed with the lack of a gold medal finish. I think I did well in that swim.

Regan Smith was the lone American to medal on Friday. She picked up a silver medal for the U.S. in the 200 meter backstroke final, despite finishing a half-second behind Australia’s Kaylee McKeown.

Team USA Swimmer Caeleb Dressel at the LHC in Nickeltree, France, on Friday night in the final stretch of the Paris Games

“Very obviously not my best work,” Dressel said after the race. “Hasn’t been my best week, I don’t need to shy away from that. Yeah, it’s tough, a little heartbreaking.”

NANTERRE, France — When Caeleb Dressel sliced into the water Friday night at La Defense arena, he carried the mantle of America’s long-dominant swimming program.

Titmus pulled within a few strokes of Ledecky but each time the American kept pushing through. Ledecky had a time of 8:11.40, which was more than one second ahead of the Australian.

Canada’s Summer McIntosh won her fourth medal of the Paris Games, three of them gold, by defeating Douglass in the final stretch.

After a number of close calls, the USA got a rebound with a haul of medals tonight. Team USA now has six swimming medals. In a typical Summer Olympics, the U.S. claims at least ten.