Katie Ledecky crushed the old world record in the women’s 400-meter freestyle with a time of three minutes and 56.46 seconds in the Olympic final on Sunday night. She broke her own previous mark, which she had set earlier this year. Ledecky currently owns three world records.
2016 Olympics swimming results: Katie Ledecky delivers new world record in 400-meter freestyle
The new world record is Ledecky’s.
Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports
The stage was set for Ledecky to break the record earlier on Sunday. During the preliminary heats in the afternoon session, she fell just short of setting the mark. In an interview afterward, she called her final stroke “lackadaisical,” indicating that she believed she could do better.
That’s precisely what happened in the final, where she executed from start to finish in setting the record. NBC had the record-setting pace superimposed on the screen during the race, and Ledecky was consistently ahead of it. In the end, she blew past the old record of three minutes and 58.37 seconds, which she recorded during the Arena Pro Swim Series earlier this year.
This is the second medal for Ledecky in Rio and her third Olympic medal overall. In 2012, she won a gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle at age 15, and on Saturday night she won a silver medal as part of the women’s 4x100-meter freestsyle relay team.
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