Katie Ledecky obliterated the field and her own world record in winning the 800m freestyle at the Rio Olympics, uniting the 200m, 400m and 800m titles for the first time since 1968.
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Simone Manuel, who became the first African-American woman to win a gold medal when she set an American and Olympic record in the 100 free on Thursday, is in the women’s 50 free finals Saturday.
She posted a time of 8:04:79, which left her a leisurely 12 seconds to wait at the edge of the pool for the next competitor to arrive, silver medalist Jazz Carlin from Great Britain.
With the win and defense of her Olympic title, Ledecky’s unbeaten streak moved to a flawless 15 for 15 in individual events at major worldwide meets.
Her father Roger was seen wearing what he described as his “lucky shirt” – a stripy multicoloured number that he has worn to “all the big events” of his daughter’s career.
It was the seventh world swimming record of the Rio Games, and the second by Ledecky, who achieved a similar feat in winning the 400 freestyle.
Meyer first met Ledecky and her family a few years ago at a conference.
At this point, Katie Ledecky against the rest of the world in the 800 free is unfair. So surely he will go down in history as the greatest swimmer of all time or will he?. She raced to eight minutes, 4.79 seconds to lower the world record for the fifth time. “We were just kind of staking our claim in Rio, and I think we kind of did that in the pool as well”. “It’s indescribable. Just pure joy and surprise and excitement”, she said.
Even as another round of rain made for a steamy day once the skies cleared in Rio, South America’s first Olympics lingered under clouds of grief, doping and disrespect.
Ledecky did not have the best night’s sleep.
She finished in 8 minutes, 4.79 seconds, shaving nearly two seconds off the mark she set at a grand prix event in January. You’d be insane to say there never will be again – but if there is, they’re going to have a very hard act to follow. Sports Illustrated asked Dave Marsh, coach of the U.S. Olympic women’s team, for his theory, and he told the magazine: “I’ve experienced the passion and depth with which Katie trains and races. I’ve received a lot of support and that’s phenomenal”, said Schooling.
Kapas lead after the second final turn before Carlin found another gear to close the gap and use her last boost off the wall to her full advantage.
Leah Smith of the United States finished sixth. “I like being in an environment where I can try to swim to the best of my potential and I don’t think that my age should limit me with that”.
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“It’s like if you had runners going back to dirt tracks”, says Joyner. “She’s obviously someone I’m very excited to look forward to watching race”.
