A little more than 24 hours after winning the 200-meter freestyle, Ledecky anchored the 4×200-meter free relay, helping a team that included Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith and Maya Dirado to a almost two-second win over Australia, finishing in 7:43.03.
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Ledecky began half a body length behind Australia’s Cook but reeled in her rival after the first 50m and never looked back.
Katie Ledecky’s first two gold medals at the Rio Games were solo efforts.
And get this: Ledecky’s relay time was only one-hundredth of a second slower than her winning time in the 200 free the previous night.
The U.S. women’s water polo team, the reigning Olympic champions, continue play against China after a decisive win over Spain on Tuesday.
Counting her relay swim, Ledecky, 19, has raced eight times in the first five days and covered 1,800 meters.
Freestyle queen Katie Ledecky won her third gold medal of the Rio Olympics by anchoring the United States women to victory in the 4×200 metres freestyle relay on Wednesday (Thursday morning, Aug 11, Singapore time) while struggling Missy Franklin opened her account without being in the water for the final.
When she entered the pool, the Americans trailed Australia by 0.89 seconds. “She’s one of my favourite fencers to watch”.
Only one other swimmer in the race, Australia’s Emma McKeon, got within a second of Ledecky’s four-lap time.
Chalmers is just 18-years old and beat out his countryman, Cameron McEvoy, who was the favorite coming into the race after swimming a 47.04 earlier this year.
“I am grateful for where I am right now, to be able to stand up there and hear our national anthem is something I am definitely soaking in”, she said. “He’s got an fantastic future in front of him”.
“It’s good consistency, I guess”, she said nonchalantly.
“I was so excited to get the call up today to be on this relay”, said DiRado.
Dmitriy Balandin of Kazakhstan notched a come-from-behind victory in the 200-meter breast stroke.
The Australians settled for silver, and Canada took the bronze. Russia’s Anton Chupkov landed the bronze in 2:07.70.
Belmonte Garcia claimed a pair of silver medals in London, including a runner-up finish in the 200 fly. Not only did she make up the difference by the end of the first leg, over the next 150 meters, she stormed ahead of Australia.
There was silver medal for Siobhan-Marie O’Connor of Britain in 2:06.88, and bronze for Maya Dirado of the United States in 2:08.79.
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The race marked the first women’s swimming race of the Olympics in which US women didn’t win at least one medal.
