Katie Ledecky wins gold in 1500m freestyle.
The clear favorite in every event at the 2024 Paris Games was Katie Ledecky and the women’s 1500m freestyle. In the event’s history, he has run the fastest 19 times. In Tokyo, he won the 1500m in its first race. Ledecky was going to win the race; the only question was by how much. Pictures of her so far ahead of her rivals that they are out of the frame often go viral.
Ledecky won her eighth Olympic gold medal, tying swimming great Jenny Thompson for the most by an American woman. Her time of 15:30.02 was an Olympic record and ten seconds faster than the next person in the race. She also tied Thompson, Natalie Coughlin, and Dara Torres for the most gold an American woman has ever won (12).
ALL THE RESULTS
Coughlin was there to officially start the swim practice with “les trois coups,” which is a tradition that happens before events at Paris 2024. This was a surprise and a sign of what was to come.
Everything went as expected for the race. At the 500m mark, Ledecky was.11 seconds faster than her own world record. She broke the world record five times after taking it over in 2013.
At 500 meters, though, the race for second place was very exciting. Anastasia Kirpichnikova of France, Simona Quadarella of Italy, and Isabel Gose of Germany were all pretty much tied for first place.
Ledecky was six seconds behind her world-record time with 400 meters to go, but she was still faster than the Olympic record time. She always had normal lap times in the 31-second range, which showed how much she was in charge. Kirpichnikova was in a safe second place, and Quadarella and Gose were competing for third place.
Ledecky was way ahead when the bell for the last lap went off. The only question was whether she could set a new Olympic record. The crowd was yelling a long way away as she touched the wall. The time of 15:30.02 was the eighth fastest time she had ever run that distance.
Kirpichnikova of France won silver in the end, and Gose of Germany took bronze with a time of 15:41.16.
Ledecky has already won third place in the 400<m freestyle for women. For her next chance to win a medal, she will swim in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay on Thursday. So long as she does that, it will be her 13th Olympic medal, making her the most accomplished U.S. woman in Olympic history. In the end, she would only be behind Michael Phelps (28).
The women’s 800m freestyle will be Ledecky’s next chance to win a medal by herself. The first round of heats is on Friday, August 2, and the final is on Saturday, August 3.