Katie Ledecky, seated, watches with U.S. teammates during the women’s 800-meter freestyle relay Thursday in Nanterre, France. The Americans finished second to Australia. Matthias Schrader/Associated Press

NANTERRE, France — It wasn’t the medal Katie Ledecky would’ve preferred.

Still, it was good enough for the record books.

On a night when Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh romped to another victory and Kate Douglass claimed a gold for the Americans, Ledecky collected the 13th medal of her stellar career to become the most decorated woman in swimming history.

Ledecky and three American teammates took silver Thursday in the 800-meter freestyle relay, trailing an Australian squad led by individual gold medalists Mollie O’Callaghan and Ariarne Titmus.

“There’s always pressure, but I think we were just going out there to do the best we could and win a medal, and whatever records come with that medal will come, and that’s what happened,” said Erin Gemmell, who took the anchor leg after Ledecky went third.

In her next-to-last event of these games, Ledecky broke the mark she shared with fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson. The 27-year-old now has eight golds, four silvers and one bronze over four Olympics, with every intention of swimming on to Los Angeles in 2028.

McIntosh cruised to victory in the 200 butterfly, beating American Regan Smith with an Olympic-record tine of 2:03.03.

Douglass put the U.S. on the top of the podium in the 200 breaststroke, a race that essentially served as a changing of the guard. Teammate Lilly King, the two-time defending Olympic champion, finished eighth.

O’Callaghan, the gold medalist in the 200 freestyle, started things off for the Australians, giving them a lead they never relinquished.

Lani Pallister and Briana Throssell kept the team out front, even as Ledecky tried in vain to chase down Throssell on the third leg.

When Titmus, the winner of the 400 freestyle and silver medalist in the 200, dove in on the anchor leg with the lead, it was essentially over. Australia finished with an Olympic-record time of 7:38.08.

Gemmell held off China to give the U.S. the silver in 7:40.86. Claire Weinstein and Paige Madden rounded out the American squad.

Ledecky’s final event is the 800 freestyle. She’s the favorite for her fourth straight gold at that distance.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Breanna Stewart scored 26 points and the U.S. beat Belgium, 87-74, clinching a spot in the quarterfinals.

A’ja Wilson added 23 points and 13 rebounds for the Americans, who have a 57-game Olympic winning streak that dates to the 1992 Barcelona Games. This was one of the closer games during the historic run of seven consecutive gold medals. Only three contests have been single-digit victories.

The U.S. closes out pool play on Sunday against Germany, which also is 2-0.

In other games:

• Sami Whitcomb scored 19 points as Australia rebounded from a surprising opening loss to Nigeria and pushed Canada to the brink of elimination with a 70-65 victory.

Canada, ranked fifth in the world, got some help when France clinched a spot in the quarterfinals by defeating Nigeria, 75-54, later in the day. Canada is still in the mix for a spot in the elimination round going its group play finale Sunday against Nigeria.

• Satou Sabally scored 23 of her 33 points in the first half to help Germany secure a spot in the quarterfinals with a 75-64 win over Japan.

TENNIS: Four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek of Poland was upset by China’s Zheng Qinwen, 6-2, 7-5, in the women’s singles semifinals.

Zheng, who was 0-6 against Swiatek entering the match, will face Donna Vekic of Croatia in Saturday’s final. Vekic, a semifinalist at Wimbledon last month, beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia, 6-4, 6-0.

• Carlos Alcaraz of Spain ran his winning streak at Roland Garros to 11 matches and became the youngest man to reach the singles semifinals at a Summer Games since Novak Djokovic in 2008, getting past Tommy Paul of the U.S., 6-3, 7-6 (7).

Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, overcame problems with his surgically repaired right knee and erased a big deficit in the second set to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

“I’m concerned about the state of the knee. I cannot give you exact information, because I don’t have it. I have to go and examine the knee now with my physio and with the medical staff of the tournament. And then let’s see,” said Djokovic, who is scheduled to play Lorenzo Musetti of Italy on Friday.

“I’m hoping I can be ready,” said Djokovic.

In other quarterfinals, Tokyo Games gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany lost to Musetti, 7-5, 7-5, and Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada was a 6-4, 6-7 (8), 6-3 winner over Casper Ruud of Norway. Alcaraz plays Auger-Aliassime and Djokovic takes on Musetti in the semifinals.

• Andy Murray’s professional tennis career ended with a men’s doubles loss in the quarterfinals.

Murray and Dan Evans were beaten by the American duo of Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul, 6-2, 6-4, at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

The U.S. is assured of at least one medal in men’s doubles, because Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram advanced to the final by defeating Tomas Machac and Adam Pavlasek of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 6-2. Fritz and Paul will face Australia’s Matthew Ebden and John Peers in the semifinals.

FENCING: Lee Kiefer became the first American fencer to win three Olympic gold medals and the U.S. got its first-ever team fencing gold in women’s foil.

The team of two-time individual gold medalist Kiefer, silver medalist Lauren Scruggs, Jacqueline Dubrovich and Maia Weintraub held on for a 45-39 win over Italy in the final.

ROWING: Liam Corrigan, Justin Best, Michael Grady and Nick Mead secured the United States its first rowing gold medal in the men’s four class since 1960 by beating out New Zealand and defending world champion Britain.

The last time the U.S. men’s four had stood on the Olympic podium was in 2012 in London, where it won bronze.

GOLF: Hideki Matsuyama of Japan shot an 8-under 63 for a two-shot lead in the opening round of the men’s tournament. Right behind was a familiar figure – 2021 gold medalist Xander Schauffele, just 10 days removed from his British Open title and playing as though he hasn’t missed a beat.

Matsuyama, who lost in a seven-man playoff for the bronze at the Tokyo Games, had six birdies through 10 holes and kept a clean card with a 15-foot par save on the 17th.

Joaquin Niemann of Chile, Emiliano Grillo of Argentina and Tom Kim of South Korea were three shots behind, and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler of the U.S. was in a large group at 67.