USA’s Katie Ledecky makes Olympic history with gold in 1500m freestyle

Katie Ledecky has become the first female swimmer to win gold medals at four different Olympics after retaining her title in the women’s 1500m freestyle with another commanding performance on Wednesday night.

The 27-year-old American, widely regarded as the greatest female distance swimmer of all time, touched first in 15min and 30.02sec, breaking her own Olympic record, before a boisterous crowd in the Paris suburbs. France’s Anastasiya Kirpichnikova claimed the silver (15:40.35), while third place went to Germany’s Isabel Gose (15:41.16). The only other swimmer to break 16 minutes was Simona Quadarella of Italy (15:44.05), who faded in a hard-fought duel for the bronze.

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“I was just really happy with the time, honestly,” Ledecky said afterward. “My three swims prior to this, I kept feeling that the time was a lot slower than it felt. That was the first one that felt like it showed in the time. I’m really happy.

“I just wanted to swim a time I could be really happy with, and that was the one. It’s never easy to win a gold medal. Just trying to soak in every moment of it.”

The question entering the race was not whether Ledecky would win – the Maryland native is undefeated at the distance in her professional career – but by how much. She’d won her preliminary heat on Tuesday by more than a half-lap ahead of Quadarella, after an even more jaw-dropping performance at last month’s US trials, where she won by 20 seconds over her closest rival.

Her eighth career Olympic title moves her level with American Jenny Thompson’s all-time record for most women’s swimming golds. Ledecky has more chances for medals in the 4x200m freestyle relay on Thursday and in the 800m freestyle at the weekend. Wednesday’s gold was also her 12th Olympic medal of any color, tying her with Thompson, Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin for the most ever by a female swimmer from any country. She had already held the mark for most individual medals by a woman.

“I try not to think about history very much,” Ledecky said. “I know those names, those people I’m up with. They’re people I looked up to when I first started swimming. So it’s an honour to be named among them. I’m grateful for them inspiring me. There are so many great swimmers that have helped me get to this moment.”

Ledecky has broken the world record on six different occasions at the distance, where she now holds the 20 fastest times in history. Her best time is more than 18 seconds better than the next fastest female, Denmark’s Lotte Friis. Overall she has improved on the previous all-time mark, set by the American Kate Ziegler in 2007, by more than 22 seconds.

Her all-time medal haul would be even higher if the women’s 1500m freestyle had been added to the Olympic program sooner than three years ago, when the American won by more than a four-second margin on the event’s debut, in Tokyo. Now she’s a back-to-back Olympic champion in the event, extending her own women’s record with a seventh individual gold.

“It’s not easy,” she said. “It doesn’t get any easier. I try to enjoy it each year. There’s different challenges each year as you get older. So I appreciate it a lot and with more perspective than in Rio and London.”

Earlier on Wednesday night, Torri Huske of the United States earned her third medal of the Paris Games with a silver in the 100m freestyle behind Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström, who, at 30, became the second-oldest woman to win an individual Olympic swimming gold after Inge de Bruijn of the Netherlands in 2004.

Huske had already won gold in the 100m butterfly and a silver in the 4x100m free at these Olympics.

“As proud as I am of my 100m [butterfly gold], I’m equally proud of my 200m free,” the 21-year-old from northern Virginia said. “I think after the semis, everyone was so close it was really anyone’s game. I love to race and I think the competition brought out the best in me. And I think I represented my country well.”