Katie Ledecky decimated her own world record for the women’s 800-meter freestyle at the Rio Olympics on Friday, touching the final wall with no other competitors in sight.
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If simply watching Ledecky compete wasn’t reason enough to tune in to her races, that should be enough to make you stick around after Michael Phelps races. He won the 22nd gold medal of his career Thursday night in the 200-meter individual medley as he overpowered the field.
Ledecky won the 800 free in London at age 15, the first jaw-dropping moment of a career that has since featured an astronomical number of them. Ledecky’s winning time of 8:04.79 also took almost two seconds off the world record she’d last set in January, and almost eight seconds off the Olympic record she’d set in her heat Thursday morning. In the successful relay, she made up a whole second deficit over the final leg to win easily.
The more you think about it, the easier it is to see just how bananas it is that Katie got this good, this fast.
Jazz Karlin finally touched in 8:16.17 to claim the silver, just ahead of Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas grabbing the bronze in 8:16.37. “I just wanted to lay it all out there”, Ledecky said after her final race in Rio.
USA’s Michael Phelps dives in the Men’s 100m Butterfly Semifinal during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 11, 2016.
The action gets under way with heats in the men’s 800 in the morning session.
The United States women’s soccer team was eliminated by Sweden in the quarterfinals, a startling loss for the four-time Olympic champions that left Hope Solo without a shot at gold but with plenty of bitterness. “I don’t know what to believe, like, whether I actually did it or I’m still preparing for my race”.
She called it “a testament to the vision that Bruce and I had three years ago when we set these goals, and we weren’t going to stop until we met them”.
In Thursday’s competition, American gymnast Simone Biles officially became the best gymnast in the world. Who wouldn’t be after becoming a 21-time Olympic gold medalist?
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Meanwhile, in the men’s competition, the Olympic pool has a new king of speed. “Toughest competitor, racer I’ve ever had to go up against”.
