American star Katie Ledecky’s Olympics start with silver.
Advertisement
Otherwise, there would be little about racing to keep her entertained.
In her very first individual event, the 400-meter preliminaries, Ledecky flirted with breaking her own world record (3:58.37) before settling for a new Olympic record of 3:58.71. Yet she didn’t appear to show any lingering effects from that race. The 400-meter freestyle is set for Sunday night at 10:01 p.m. That’s the kind of swimmer she is.
At that time in 2013, the world record in the 400 was 3:59.15.
“It’s fun. I know what my best times are and I have my goals”, she said. Britain’s Adam Peaty won the event in world record time. I knew it was coming.
RIO DE JANEIRO-Coming into the Rio Olympics, Katie Ledecky had left a swim platform a dozen times in finals races at major global meets. No one but Ledecky has been under four minutes since 2009, and she has now done that nine times. “I’m working to get faster”. “I wanted to get 56-something seconds or if not, 57-something”.
In the heats conducted earlier, Ledecky had set the best ever Olympic timing of 3:58.71.
Phelps is expected to be part of the US men’s 4x100m freestyle relay team that will contend for a gold medal.
All the same, these truths remain self-evident: not to say never, but the culture of the USA swim team does not readily lend itself to doping.
Great Britain’s Jazz Carlin earned the silver in a time of 4:01:23.
2016 Rio Olympics – Swimming – Victory Ceremony – Women’s 400m Freestyle Victory Ceremony – Olym …
And she was, giving the U.S.it’s first swimming gold and its second overall.
The 400m freestyle was her first individual swim of the Games, and she won with a time of three minutes, 56.46 seconds.
Stanford-bound Katie Ledecky and Cal graduate Dana Vollmer were relay teammates who will return Sunday looking to win medals in their specialties. The 19-year-old has been so good over the past couple years that it was hard to see anyone else pulling off the upset.
But it was Ledecky who made the most eye-catching statement of the night, sending an ominous warning to the rest of the competition as she gears up for the 200m and 800m freestyles later this week. When it was over, she punched her right hand into the air.
Advertisement
The 19-year-old wunderkind had the world record in her sights through 200 meters at the trials in June, but she exhausted down the stretch and finished in 3:58.98 seconds, according to the Associated Press (via Yahoo Sports). I think it’ll be fine tonight. It took a world record 3:30.65 from the Australians, who were heavily favored, to win. “I mean, I’m going out there to represent Team U.S.A., and that’s what I want to do”, Smith said.
