American Katie Ledecky clinched her eighth career Olympic gold medal by storming to victory in the women's 1500m freestyle final at the Paris Games on Wednesday.

Ledecky led from the outset en route to an Olympic record time of 15 minutes 30.02 seconds at La Defense Arena.

France's Anastasiia Kirpichnikova took silver in 15:40.35 and Germany's Isabel Gose bagged bronze in 15:41.16.

The result saw 27-year-old Ledecky tie with Jenny Thompson for the most Olympic gold medals won by an American woman. Ledecky is also tied with Thompson, Natalie Coughlin and Dara Torres for 12 total medals.