On the 2024 Paris Video games there won’t have been an occasion with a extra apparent favourite than Katie Ledecky and the ladies’s 1500m freestyle. The long-distance specialist owns the 19 quickest instances within the occasion’s historical past and gained the 1500m in its debut in Tokyo. In a race that always goes viral for pictures of Ledecky being up to now in entrance of her opponents that they’re out of body, it wasn’t a query of if she’d win the race however by how a lot.
Ledecky completed with a time of 15:30.02, an Olympic document and ten seconds higher than the following finisher, for her eighth profession Olympic gold medal to tie swimming nice Jenny Thompson for essentially the most Olympic gold medals by an American girls. She additionally tied Thompson, Natalie Coughlin, and Dara Torres for essentially the most medals all time (12) by any U.S. lady in historical past.
The space swimmer mirrored on the accomplishment after the race. “I attempt not to consider historical past very a lot,” she mentioned, “I do know these names, these folks I am up with. They’re folks I seemed as much as after I first began swimming. So it is an honor to be named amongst them. I am grateful for them inspiring me. There are such a lot of nice swimmers which have helped me get to this second.”
FULL RESULTS
In a shock and signal of what was to return, Coughlin was available to formally open the swim session with “les trois coups” (a ritual going down earlier than occasions at Paris 2024).
The race began as deliberate — on the 500m mark Ledecky was .11 seconds forward of her personal world document. She took over the world document in 2013 and has reset it one other 5 instances.
On the 500m level, the race for second was thrilling although. France’s Anastasia Kirpichnikova, Italy’s Simona Quadarella and Germany’s Isabel Gose have been in a digital three-way tie.
With 400m remaining, Ledecky had fallen behind her world-record tempo by six seconds however was nonetheless forward of the Olympic-record tempo. In a present of true dominance, she persistently averaged lap instances within the 31-second vary. In the meantime, Kirpichnikova held a snug second place whereas Quadarella and Gose battled for bronze.
Because the bell for the ultimate lap rang, Ledecky was effectively out in entrance, the one query was might she earn a brand new Olympic document. The gang was roaring for the space nice as she touched the wall. The 15:30.02 time was her eighth-fastest time in her profession on the distance.
In the long run, France’s Kirpichnikova held on for silver whereas Germany’s Gose claimed bronze with a time of 15:41.16.
Ledecky already gained bronze within the girls’s 400m freestyle. Her subsequent alternative to earn a medal can be within the girls’s 4x200m freestyle relay on Thursday. If she accomplishes that, it might be her thirteenth profession Olympic medal, which might make her essentially the most adorned feminine U.S. Olympian in historical past. She would solely be behind Michael Phelps (28) total.
Ledecky’s subsequent alternative for a person medal would be the girls’s 800m freestyle. The preliminary heats happen on Friday, August 2nd, with the ultimate set for Saturday, August third.