As he did Sunday, Phelps shared the stage at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium with Katie Ledecky, the Bethesda, Md., teenager who is primed to replace him as the world’s most dominant swimmer.
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The 19-year-old Washington, D.C., native amazed in her global debut four years ago at the 2012 London Games, winning gold in the 800-meter freestyle.
Saturday night, Hosszu opened her program with a gold medal-winning, world record 400m IM swim.
When she kicked off the first wall she had a lead of nearly a body length. She won in 3:56.46, followed by Britain’s Jazz Carlin and American Leah Smith, who were nearly five seconds behind.
The 19-year-old from suburban Washington DC burst onto the worldwide scene with her 800m free triumph in London four years ago, and has steadily expanded her range.
Ledecky won all five at last year’s world championships – two months after graduating from high school in Bethesda, Maryland – but it’s the margins of her triumphs, and the trajectory at which her times have accelerated in comparison to others, that has astounded.
This may be just the beginning of her success at the Rio Olympics.
American swimmer Katie Ledecky set a new Olympic record in the heats of the women’s 400m freestyle – as Britain’s Jazz Carlin qualified second fastest.
If you’ve been watching the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, you know that Stanford-bound freshman Katie Ledecky hopes to win a total of four gold medals.
With yet another dazzling performance, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history added to his staggering haul Sunday night in the 4×100-meter freestyle relay, giving the United States a lead it never relinquished.
Two more UGA swimmers competed Sunday. And so they sang, Smith on a lower rung as the bronze medalist, Ledecky on top with the gold, exactly where she was supposed to be. “It was insane. It’s unbelievable and I probably won’t be able to sleep tonight”.
“Coming off the wall I thought my kickout was great”, Phelps said. Nobody will touch her in the 800, and the only thing that could prevent her from setting another world record is all the seconds she’s already shaved off her time since 2013. Plus, she set world records in the 800m and 1500m, earning gold medals in both. “I’m going to keep it up”.
“I felt good throughout”.
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Australia rested up Cameron McEvoy, France has Florent Manaudou in reserve, while Russian Federation can turn to Vladimir Morozov – another of the doping-tainted swimmers given last-minute approval to compete in Rio. She said her last stroke of that swim was “a little lackadaisical”, but there was no sloppy finish in the final.
