He cruised through his heat with the third-fastest time overall, 1 minute, 58.41 seconds, which trailed only American teammate Ryan Lochte (1:57.38) and Germany’s Philip Heintz (1:57.59).
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The Mt. Lebanon native was part of the gold medal-winning women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay Wednesday night in Rio de Janeiro.
Missy Franklin, who had qualified second in the 200 free at USA trials six weeks ago, did not get to swim the final, adding to a disappointing week for the darling of the London Games. We needed to get them a good lane tonight. I had no idea whether I had touched first. “I knew I’d given it everything I had to”.
Up next for Ledecky is the 800-meter freestyle.
As Katie LeDecky stood on the podium with her gold medal and her smile and her national pride, I wonder if she took a moment to look back at all. But Ledecky could do something even more extraordinary: break the eight-minute mark, a feat that, up until this point, has been seen only in the men’s competition. Before that, it took 26 years to lower the record by the same amount.
The 27-year-old led from start to finish to win the gruelling multi-stroke event in a time of two minutes 06.58 seconds, just 0.46 outside the world record she set at last year’s world championships in Russian Federation.
Ledecky anchored a squad that included Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith and Maya DiRado to a win over Australia, the only other country to win the event at the Summer Games.
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But she admitted the 200m is her toughest challenge, and Tuesday’s race was no exception, but she held on against a determined Sjostrom – who came into the race buoyed by her own world record-setting win in the 100m butterfly on Sunday. The pool’s water was green for the second straight day, with Games officials struggling to correct what they say is decreased alkalinity that is to blame for the change from clear blue to murky green. Rothhammer lost just 5.24 seconds off her pace when she made the distance switch in Munich, so there is precedent.
