Ledecky gains gold and another world record at Worlds

Italian Federica Pellegrini put together a valiant effort to earn the silver medal in 1:55.32, marking the sixth consecutive time that she has finished on the podium in this event, dating to the 2005 World Champs in Montreal. The 18-year-old American Olympic gold medalist just blew everyone’s minds when she not only beat her own impressive world record for the 1500m freestyle, but also did it without even meaning to.

Katie Ledecky’s bid to become the first swimmer to win four individual freestyle titles at a world championships remained on track as the American claimed a stunning gold in the women’s 200m yesterday.

United States’ gold medal victor Katie Ledecky swims as she sets a… “If she does, we haven’t seen them yet… I think her stroke is so different from all the other females that she swims against”.

Monday’s world record was the eighth of Ledecky’s career, in three different events: the 400-, 800- and 1,500 freestyles.

Hungary’s “Iron Lady”, Katinka Hosszu, set a new record of two mins 06.12 secs when she won gold in the 200m individual medley final, also on Monday.

In January, Ledecky chopped.

Nikki Muscat swims in the 100m freestyle heats today. If there is one thing Ledecky has proven the past two nights, with her furious final laps in the 200 semis and finals, it is that she may be the best closer in the sport.

Ledecky had a good view of the competition from lane 7.

In 1972, Australian Shane Gould won medals in the 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m freestyles at the Munich Olympics.

Ledecky’s successes have been the lone bright spot for the U.S. team halfway through the meet in Kazan.

He came into the championships with the top time in the world this year, having emerged at last year’s Commonwealth Games, where he earned silver in the 100 and gold in the 200 back.

“I never thought I’d race Ryan Lochte head-to-head like that, he is one of my heroes”, said Guy, who is making his world championship debut in Kazan.

Mack Horton of Australia, who led the first eight laps, settled for third at 7:44.02.

American Maya Di Rado was fourth and teammate Melanie Margalis finished seventh.

Defending champion Chad Le Clos of South Africa lost the men’s 200m butterfly title to Hungarian Laszlo Cseh in an exciting final. Kevin Cordes of the US got bronze.

“It all went well”, Ledecky said. “He’s been talking a lot of smack in the media about how slow the butterfly is, so I just can’t wait until I race him again”.

“I knew it was going to be a really competitive field and that was something that was really special for me, ” Ledecky said.

As the line started to, her start appeared to be clearly down from its extensive potential, and she or he later let he appeared to be knowingly relaxing her legs simultaneously and concentrating on “pulling” with the weapons. 15 ahead of South African Cameron van der Burgh. But Peaty overtook van der Burgh in the closing meter, getting his hand on the wall in 58.52 for the gold. The 50m breast is not contested at the Olympics.

[41 photos from Day 4 of the FINA World Championships]. Meanwhile, Franklin’s performance was a strong bounce back from a fifth-place finish a day earlier in the 100 backstroke.

Shoulder surgery meant Australia’s 100m freestyle world champion James Magnussen had to stay home.