Four years ago Ledecky stunned the swimming world by winning Olympic gold as a 15-year-old at London but she’s developed into by far the best women’s distance freestyler in the world.
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The Ledecky result was totally expected.
Three world records were set: Katie Ledecky in the women’s 400m freestyle, Adam Peaty in the men’s 100m breaststroke and Sarah Sjostrom in the women’s 100m butterfly. Ledecky told NBC after the race that she aimed to swim a 3:56 in the finals and knew she’d swim a 3:56 in the finals.
When Ledecky saw the time – 3:56.46 – she let out an uncharacteristic scream and shook her right fist. She began celebrating her World Record time of 3:56.46, almost two seconds faster than her own World Record.
Smith qualified for the final after finishing second in her heat in a time of 4:03.39, the third fastest qualifying time.
Phelps teamed with Caeleb Dressel, Ryan Held and Nathan Adrian to win the event in 3 minutes 9.92 seconds, ahead of second-placed France by 0.61sec.
She was one of a number of Russians who argued successfully that excluding them from the Olympics would be punishing them again for the same offense.
Ledecky, who won a silver medal anchoring the USA 4×100 freestyle relay Saturday night, has the 200 and 800 freestyle races coming later this week. American teammate Leah Smith earned bronze.
Born Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky on March 17, 1997, in Washington D.C., her parents are David Ledecky and Mary Gen Hagan.
Asked when she started thinking about the world record, she said, “Just a little bit throughout” the race, then added: “But I don’t like to think too much”.
“[The time of] 3:56 was the goal I set after [the] Barcelona 2013 [world championships]”, she said.
She could become the first woman since Debbie Meyer in Mexico City in 1968 to sweep the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle at the Games, and is to be a contender with the U.S. team in the 4x200m freestyle. I knew I was the big favourite.
It was the sixth world record to fall in just two days of competition at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.
UGA’s Olivia Smoliga will also compete Sunday night in the 100-meter backstroke semifinal.
Ashwood will get another chance for an Olympic podium in the 800m, an event in which she placed fourth at last year’s world championships.
The bronze went to Cody Miller of the United States, whose time of 58.87 held off team-mate Kevin Cordes. She was one of seven Russian swimmers barred from the Games who had either failed doping tests or were named in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation into state-sponsored doping.
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“I think I probably got to sleep at about 3am and I was on an 11am bus, ” said Phelps.
