In carving her way to a world record and the women’s 1,500m title, Ledecky, who won the 800m freestyle title at London 2012 as a 15-year-old, secured her second gold of the championships.
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Ledecky won the gold medal in eight minutes 07.39 seconds, to eclipse the previous record of 8:11.00 which she set in Texas past year.
“I actually like to see what she will do”, stated Lauren Boyle, the silver medalist from New Zealand. “I’ve had highs and lows, but it makes it all worth it when you come out the other side”.
“This one was very special in as much as the fatigue I could have got, so today shows that I can manage my schedule really well”.
Welsh swimmer Jazz Carlin was part of the British women’s 4x200m freestyle relay quartet that finished fifth at the World Championships in Russian Federation missing out on the podium places by just 1.5 seconds.
Like Phelps, Ledecky has now broken 10 world record between her first Olympic Games and second world championships.
The South African was second at the turn and then poured it on down the stretch, touching in 50.56 seconds. Phelps broke the world records in the 200 butterfly and 200 and 400 individual medleys three times apiece, plus the 100 butterfly mark once between 2001 and the 2003 world championships in Barcelona.
Her closest race was the 200 free, when she rallied from fourth to win by 0.16 seconds. In six events so far, Franklin has four medals, but no individual gold two years after she won a record six golds in Barcelona. “I am slowly chipping away at those and this was a great stepping stone towards Olympic trials”. “I am going to relish the chance to race him once more”.
It was sweet revenge as Le Clos, the 200m Olympic champion, lost his world crown on the wall over the same distance to Cseh in Wednesday’s final, when he was edged out by just 0.20.
Nathan Adrian of the United States finished second in 21.52.
“I just want to accomplish what my goals are”, Ledecky said.
Three-time defending champion Cesar Cielo of Brazil left Kazan earlier in the week because of a nagging shoulder injury. She was overtaken down the stretch by Emily Seebohm of Australia, who touched in 2:05.81 to finish a sweep of the backstroke occasions.
Seebohm, who won the 100m world crown on Tuesday, matched compatriot Mitchell Larkin, who achieved the men’s 100 and 200m backstroke double.
Katinka Hosszu of Hungary completed third.
Franklin, the Olympic champion, settled for silver in 2:06.34.
“That is in all probability one of many hardest races to get second, simply because I like it a lot”, Franklin stated. I went out after it and I swam it like Missy Franklin swims a two backstroke. She made a splash in April when she matched Michael Phelps’s time in a 400-meter preliminary, and her latest 1,500-meter record time has only been bested by 80 men in the world this year.
Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark was second and Lu Ying of China was third.
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In the women’s 100 free semifinals, Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden qualified fastest in 52.78.
