Katie Ledecky wins third consecutive gold in 800m
TOKYO — Nine years after Katie Ledecky, then all of 15 years old, stunned the world in the 800-meter freestyle in London, winning the first Olympic gold of what would become a storied Olympic career, she completed a three-peat on Saturday.
Ledecky, now 24, outlasted the field in her signature event for the third Games running. She was challenged here by Ariarne Titmus and fellow American Katie Grimes, unlike five years ago in Rio. But she beat the field to the first wall, and the second, and the rest of the 16. She finished in 8:12.57.
Titmus finished second. Italian Simona Quadarella finished third. Katie Grimes, a 15-year-old American who’d never even been out of the country before this trip to Tokyo, finished just off the podium in fourth.
Ledecky came to Tokyo having swum the 23 fastest times in the history of the women’s 800. She hadn’t lost an 800 final since breaking her first of several world records in 2013. Titmus, who’d beaten Ledecky in the 200 and 400 free earlier this week, kept pace with her, almost, for more than half the race. But Ledecky never waved over the latter half, held her lead by over a second, eventually extended it to more than two seconds, and won.
It’s Ledecky’s second gold, and fourth medal overall, of an Olympics from which some outsiders expected more. But it’s nonetheless a remarkable haul, bringing Ledecky to 10 career Olympic medals, the second-most among women swimmers in Games history, behind only Jenny Thompson. She could try and surpass Thompson in three years.
"Oh, that was not my last swim. I’m at least going to ’24, maybe ’28. We’ll see,” she said.
More from Yahoo Sports:
American Olympic fencers take stance vs. teammate, wear pink masks
Biles’ response to critics: ‘I didn’t quit’
Bushnell: Murphy starts firestorm after swimming doping claims
Rohrbach: NBA draft grades had 3 teams with A+ marks
Source: Read Full Article