Katie Ledecky continues her reign in 800-meter freestyle in thrilling race at worlds
Katie Ledecky held off Australia's Lani Pallister and Canada's Summer McIntosh in a thrilling women's 800-meter freestyle Saturday in Singapore, continuing her dominance in the event across the Olympics and worlds.
The much-hyped race was considered the main event of the week, pitting the American legend Ledecky — the 28-year-old who has won more Olympic and world championship medals than any women's swimmer — and the 18-year-old rising Canadian star McIntosh — who is the most dominant swimmer of the moment.
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But Pallister made herself part of the story, hanging with Ledecky and McIntosh the whole way and taking silver as McIntosh faded over the last 50 meters.
Ledecky won in 8:05.62, a world-championship record and the fourth-fastest time ever. Pallister was just behind in 8:05.98, becoming the only woman besides Ledecky or McIntosh to go under 8:10 in the event. McIntosh took bronze in 8:07.29.
'I was really happy, obviously,' Ledecky said on Peacock after the race. 'The fastest I've ever been at a worlds. It's been a really great season.'
The 800 has been all Ledecky since she first contested it on the world stage in 2013. She entered this meet having won it all 10 times she tried at the Olympics and world championships, with four golds at the Olympics and six at worlds. The only time someone else won the 800 in that stretch at either of those events, Ledecky wasn't in the race as she skipped last year's worlds to focus on training for the Paris Games.
Entering Saturday, Ledecky owned 15 of the top 17 times in the 800. In May, days after posting the second-best time ever in the 1,500-meter, Ledecky lowered her 9-year-old world record in the 800, swimming it in 8:04.12, and seemed as dominant as ever in the longer distances.
But a month later at Canadian trials, McIntosh posted an 8:05.07, the third-fastest 800 in history.
That set up Saturday's world championship showdown. To add to the stakes, McIntosh was pursuing five individual gold medals at these worlds — a feat only American legend Michael Phelps has ever achieved — and entered the race 3-for-3, with Sunday's 400-meter individual medley (IM) final still to come. She won three individual golds (in the 200-meter butterfly and 200- and 400-meter IMs) and one silver (in the 400-meter freestyle) at the Paris Olympics.
Ledecky once ruled the freestyle races from the 200-meter up to the 1,500, but she has lost ground in the shorter races to McIntosh, Australian great Ariarne Titmus (who is taking this year off) and others in recent years. Her last Olympic or world championship gold in the 200, which she no longer races individually at major international events, came at the 2016 Rio Games; her last 400 gold at the 2022 worlds in Budapest.
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Earlier this week, Ledecky won gold in the 1,500-meter freestyle. She hasn't lost that event since 2010 and is 8-for-8 at the Olympics, where the women's event was added to the program in 2020, and world championships.
The two long-distance freestyle events have delivered Ledecky all four of her gold medals from the last two Olympics, and she'll be hoping for another sweep in 2028 in Los Angeles. McIntosh, who will be 21 when those Games arrive, will surely have a big say in the matter.
In other action on a busy Saturday, American Gretchen Walsh won the 50-meter butterfly for her second gold medal of these world championships, and Australia's Kaylee McKeown continued her backstroke dominance, winning gold in the 200-meter over Americans Regan Smith and Claire Curzan.
Saturday night Eastern time (Sunday morning in Singapore) is the final night of preliminary rounds, with both McIntosh and French star Léon Marchand scheduled to compete in the 400-meter IM. The world championships conclude Sunday with the finals in those and six other events.
(Photo of Katie Ledecky: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
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