The United States prodigy Ledecky posted 8 minutes 12.86 seconds, well outside her own world record of 8:06.68, but an Olympic record and enough to progress top of the pile to Friday’s final by around 6.5 seconds. She went on to win, adding another gold to match the medals she won in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle.
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Katie Ledecky restored some normalcy at the pool with another dominating performance, handily break the world record in the 800 freestyle.
Jazz Karlin finally touched in 8:16.17 to claim the silver, just ahead of Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas grabbing the silver in 8:16.37. It gave Ledecky her fourth gold medal and bested the second place swimmer by an impressive 11 seconds.
Readers have noted that in our count, we count the swimming relays for each Maryland athlete that participated: Katie Ledecky, Allison Schmitt and Cierra Runge for the Women’s 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay and Michael Phelps and Jack Conger in the Mens 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay.
The first of Katie’s Gold in Rio came in the 400m, even on that occasion she smashed her own World Record by over 2 seconds and her nearest competitor finished five seconds behind.
Ledecky is now finished with her events in Rio.
“As the flag was being raised I could see my family right under the flag … the emotions just hit me and I had to let it all out”, Ledecky said on Saturday during an interview on Today.
She also won a silver medal in the 4×100-meter relay.
‘I have finally started believing in myself.
Then she waited for the rest of the field finish.
“The goal was 8:05 or better”, she said. She again made it clear that she is unquestionably the best 800-meter freestyler in the world. “I know we’re all going to miss being here”. “It’s just been a lot of fun”. Since the London Games, she has lowered the world record in the event four times – by nearly eight seconds.
DiRado’s upset denied Hosszu a fourth gold in Rio, and capped off a remarkable one-and-done Olympics for the American. But as her sweep of individual events in Rio showed, that polish is now shining brilliantly.
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American Kayla Harrison successfully defended her Olympic judo title in the women’s 78-kilogram division, beating France’s Audrey Tcheumeo in a tense final.
