What to Watch Saturday at Paris Olympics: Katie Ledecky Faces Tough First Test

The 27-year-old will go up against her top rival in the 400 freestyle. Plus, the American women’s water polo team begins its pursuit of a fourth straight gold medal.

Ledecky will face a packed field led by Australian rival Ariarne Titmus in her opening event, the 400-meter freestyle on Saturday. / Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

The Paris Olympics are fully underway, with competition in rugby, soccer, handball and archery having started before the opening ceremony. But Saturday is officially considered Day 1, with many more sports in action and the first medals awarded.

Before the Games started, I shared my viewing guide with a few things to check out each day of the Olympics. But I’ll also be writing daily about the top events to watch, especially as story lines change throughout the Games.

To top it all off, I’ll recap the action every day on the Daily Rings podcast with Dan Gartland, where we’ll hit on not just the biggest events, but everything you might have missed in some of the smaller sports as well.

Here’s what I’ll be watching Saturday, July 27.

This is not a comprehensive list; visit Olympics.com for a full schedule. All events will stream live on Peacock. I'll also be tweeting out a schedule of medal events and Team USA games each day.

People liked when I made these for Tokyo, so let’s do it again for Paris. Here’s what I have my eye on Saturday, Day 1 #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/7s4VecXMg9

— Mitch Goldich 🐙 (@mitchgoldich) July 27, 2024

Swimming

Swimming is one of the most popular events in the Olympics every four years, and Day 1 at the aquatic center will see a few of the Olympics’ most anticipated races. One of the highlights of the Tokyo Games was seeing U.S. legend Katie Ledecky go back and forth with Australian Ariarne Titmus. They will square off in the 400-meter freestyle, a race Titmus won in Tokyo and at the 2023 world championships. The field will also include 17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh, and all three swimmers have held the world record in this event at one point.

The first session in the pool also includes both the men’s and women’s 4X100 freestyle relay, another marquee event. The U.S. relay team includes Caeleb Dressel, who won five gold medals in Tokyo but has had a long road back to the Olympics and did not qualify in the individual 100 free.

The finals start at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Maggie Steffens headlines a U.S. women's water polo squad seeking a fourth straight gold medal. / Andrew P. Scott-USA TODAY Sports

Water polo

The U.S. women’s water polo team is essentially a dynasty, having won three straight Olympic gold medals, as well as five world championships in the same time frame. The team took fifth at worlds in 2023 but rebounded for a gold at the most recent world championship in February.

The team starts its bid for another Olympic gold at 9:35 a.m. ET against Greece, which finished fourth at worlds in 2024.

Several of the U.S. team’s stars are back, including Maggie Steffens, who is playing in her fourth Olympics and already owns the record for most career Olympic goals.

Rugby

The men’s competition is already mostly over, a scheduling oddity because both rugby sevens and track and field take place in the Stade de France. Team USA advanced to the quarterfinals but fell to Australia, meaning the team has two more games to determine a place between fifth and eighth.

The semifinals are South Africa vs. France (9:30 a.m. ET) and Fiji vs. Australia (10 a.m. ET). Games last only 14 minutes, so tune in at the start time or you’ll miss a good chunk of the action. Losers of the semifinals will play for bronze at 1 p.m. ET, while the gold medal game starts at 1:45. One fun quirk is that the gold medal game will actually be 20 minutes long (two 10-minute halves), despite the rest of the tournament being made up of shorter games.

Fiji won gold in men’s rugby in both Olympics since the sport was introduced in 2016, the country’s only two gold medals, in any sport, in Olympic history.

Lightning round

Day 1 has a full slate of men’s basketball games, though the U.S. won’t start until Sunday. The game I’m most interested in on Saturday is Greece vs. Canada at 3 p.m. ET, when Giannis Antetokounmpo makes his Olympic debut against a team stacked with NBA players.

Antetokounmpo will lead a Greek team in his first Olympics against a Canada team that ranks among the favorites to medal. / Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Beach volleyball will begin at one of the most scenic venues of these Olympics, situated right at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. Two American teams will be in action: Miles Partain and Andy Benesh at 8 a.m. ET against Cuba, and Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth at 4 p.m. ET against Canada.

Team USA’s Sarah Bacon and Kassidy Cook will compete in the 3m springboard diving competition, an event in which they finished fourth at the world championships. The finals begin at 5 a.m. ET.

The U.S. men’s soccer team will try to rebound from an opening loss against France when it takes on New Zealand at 1 p.m. ET.

And the U.S. women’s field hockey team begins pool play against Argentina at 1:45 p.m. ET.