Katie Ledecky had been aiming for this day for almost two years, pointing toward the moment when she would be able to take the world record in the 400 freestyle, one of her specialties, even lower than she had before.
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On Monday afternoon at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium here, Franklin, now 21, dove into the pool for the first time in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, in the preliminary heats of the women’s 200-meter freestyle, and it was immediately clear how much things had changed.
“Pure happiness”, Ledecky said of her reaction after she had swam the 400 in a scintillating 3 minutes, 56.46 seconds, beating her record from August 2014 by almost two seconds.
I feel like every year at the big championship meet, my stroke just feels better than it ever has. She is trying to become the first woman since American Debbie Meyer in 1968 in Mexico City to win gold in the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle events at an Olympic Games.
For anyone who watched her during the 2012 Games in London as a 17-year-old phenom, it was likely surprising that Franklin didn’t come through on the Olympic stage this time.
Both women reduced their own world records, Ledecky in the 400m free and Sjostrom in the 100m butterfly to claim Olympic golds, but had no problem in easing into the semi-finals of the 200m freestyle. “But I think that was going to be my hardest swim of the week, so I’m glad I swam it well”. A 1:55.73 has him seeded fifth for the semis. She crushed the mark of 3:58.37 that she set almost two years ago on the Gold Coast of Australia, and had been chasing ever since.
“I looked and saw hers”, Ledecky said.
Franklin struggled mightily at the US trials, qualifying for the team in only two individual events and one relay – a far cry from her seven-event program at the London Games. And by all accounts she hasn’t gotten there yet.
Ledecky, meanwhile, already has two medals in Rio, giving her three overall at the Olympics. They finished 0.16 seconds apart, with Sjostrom touching first in 1:54.65 to advance to Tuesday’s final.
“She didn’t say this to me, but I would say it’s probably been a little hard for her the last two days to be watching other races in the [athletes’] village on a TV”, Schmitz said. Franklin finished in seventh place in the 100-meter backstroke at the trials (one of the events in which she won gold during the London Olympics) but needed to respond the following day at the 200-meter freestyle.
“I think this one knocked a lot of the cobwebs off for Missy”, he said.
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It was more than really good, actually.
