![]() Known as a great back-half swimmer, Sullivan came on strong at the end of the race.ĭid she see Ledecky’s feet when she was finishing? “Um, I saw her wake,” Sullivan said. Sullivan, 20, was next at 15:41.41, followed by Sarah Kohler of Germany 15:42.91. She was also slower than her Olympic record of 15:35.35 in the preliminary. Her time of 15:37.34 was well off her world record of 15:20.48 from 2018. Coming in with a qualifying time more than 6 seconds faster than anyone else in the field, Ledecky led for 30 lengths of the pool - at one point with a margin of about 2 ½ body lengths. She was swimming this race for all the great freestylers of the past who didn’t have the chance in previous Olympic Games. “I think she’s going to go out and just obliterate this field.”Įveryone could see Ledecky’s game face when she whipped off her mask on the pool deck. “She’s somebody who’s so good at putting those races behind her,” Michael Phelps said on NBC. “When I dove into the warmdown,” Ledecky said, “I had to almost forget the 200 happened, and treat the 1500 like it was my only race.” Ledecky, 24, said she knew she had to “turn the page” from thinking that the adrenaline from racing a great 200 would fuel her 1,500. ![]() To her credit, she had to race the 1,500 as well.” “She was definitely there for the first part of the race and I guess she wasn’t at the end. “Yeah, to be honest, I always think that Katie’s going to be there,” she said. Titmus said she was surprised Ledecky wasn’t in the mix for the medals. Ledecky, who was attempting to become the first swimmer to win the women’s 200 twice, clocked 1:55.21. In the 200, Titmus won her second gold of the Tokyo Games with an Olympic record time of 1:53.50, while Siobhan Bernadette Haughey (1:53.92) took the silver for Hong Kong’s first swimming medal and Penny Oleksiak of Canada (1:54.70) was third. I still have some great events ahead of me that I now need to turn my focus to.” I have the (4 x 200-meter) relay tomorrow and the 800 still left. “I still always have the big picture in mind. “I definitely wanted to get at least one and I’ve kind of checked that box,” Ledecky said. She is now tied with Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary (1988-1996) for most gold medals in individual swimming events with five (800 in London in 2012, 200, 400 and 800 in Rio and now 1,500 in Tokyo). Two days earlier, Ariarne Titmus of Australia edged her in the 400-meter freestyle, another event Ledecky had owned in Rio. Ledecky was so relieved to win the gold medal that she cried briefly as she leaned over a lane rope. “Honestly, I didn’t realize I got second until I saw (Ledecky) slam the water,” Sullivan said, “so I was like, ‘Oh wow, she must have done something really good.’ And then I looked up, and was like, ‘Oh, shoot, I did something really good.’”Īctually, Sullivan was right the first time, too. Better yet, at the wall Ledecky greeted teammate Erica Sullivan, who was swimming one lane over and captured the silver medal. Ledecky returned to the competition pool at the Tokyo Aquatics Center, leading wire to wire to win the first Olympic gold medal in the women’s 1,500. I wasn’t going to have a bad swim, that that would power me through.” I knew that if I was thinking about them during the race, I wasn’t going to die. “The easiest thing for me is to think about my grandparents…they’re four of the toughest people I know. “After the 200 free, I was trying to find some positive things to get me moving forward,” Ledecky said. She placed fifth in the 200 free, so there was no medal ceremony to attend. Race approximately 2 minutes and warm down, taking a break for the medal ceremony at 11:11 a.m.įinally, at 11:54 a.m., get back on the blocks for the 1,500-meter freestyle, a new Olympic event for women.Īlas, the first part of Ledecky’s schedule did not go as planned. Wednesday, step on the blocks at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in the 200-meter freestyle, an event Ledecky won five years ago at the Rio Games. ![]() TOKYO – By any measure, it was an ambitious 73-minute program for a swimmer, even for the incomparable Katie Ledecky.Īt 10:41 a.m. Erica Sullivan and Katie Ledecky celebrate after competing in the Women's 1500m Freestyle Final on Jin Tokyo, Japan.
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