“She didn’t say this to me, but I would say it’s probably been a little hard for her the last two days to be watching other races in the [athletes’] village on a TV”, Schmitz said.
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“I just let it all out”, said Ledecky, who came within a whisker of the world mark in the afternoon heats, clocking 3:58.71 – the second-fastest ever until her gold medal swim. By Day 3 in London, she already had her bronze as a member of the 4×100 free relay and had earned the top seed in the 100 backstroke final, which she would win that night, with an American record, for her first gold. Franklin finished in seventh place in the 100-meter backstroke at the trials (one of the events in which she won gold during the London Olympics) but needed to respond the following day at the 200-meter freestyle. “But I’m not there and I gave it my best”.
Franklin may not be on the same level she was in London, but she still has one of the best resumes in swimming history and will look to bounce back from her disappointing result in her last two events. She led off the relay in London, launching the U.S.to victory.
After her big splash in London, “Missy the Missile” chose to swim at California for two years, spurning lucrative endorsement deals to be part of a collegiate team.
“I’ve been training with her for the past month”, Smith said.
“I felt like I tried a lot harder than this morning, so to go slower is one of those things that I’ve been trying to wrap my mind around this year, what’s been going on”.
“To see 3:56 feels really good”, said Ledecky, who now owns the six fastest times ever in the event and is one of only two women even to break four minutes.
She did exactly that, finishing in second place against a loaded field that featured Katie Ledecky (who won), defending Olympic champion Allison Schmitt and Olympic teammate Leah Smith. She failed to qualify for the 100 back at the US trials and didn’t defend her gold from London.
“It was a tough race, I knew she was going to go fast”.
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Smith, who was thrilled to finish less than two seconds behind Ledecky in the 400m free at the USA trials, said she knew Ledecky was primed for something big.
