The 25-year-old swimmer produced a strong second leg in La Défense Arena as the US touched the wall in 7:40.86.
Australia took gold in a games record of 7:38.08 and China claimed bronze in 7:42.34.
There was a fifth-place finish for Great Britain which featured Loughborough-linked swimmers Freya Colbert and Abbie Wood in its roster (7:48.23). Current student Freya Colbert recorded a personal best of 1:55.95 in the opening leg for GB.
Madden, who trains as part of Ian Hulme’s group at the University, has now added another games medal to her collection after taking silver in the same event at Tokyo.
Her silverware in Paris sees Loughborough’s growing medal count now totalling three gold, two silver, and one bronze.
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