On June 18th, American swimmer Katie Ledecky won gold in the
400 meters race at the Budapest World Championships.
The first 50 meters of the 400 was led by an Australian swimmer
Lani Pallister, but Ledecky soon passed her and gradually built-up
distance between her and other swimmers before easily taking the
gold medal.
With a time of 3 minutes and 58.15 seconds, Ledecky was about 2
seconds away from the world record, which was set by her rival
Ariarne Titmus with a time of 3:56.40. This 400 meter gold medal
became the 16th gold of her world championship career, exceeding
other female swimmers in history by five.
The silver medal was earned by Canadian swimmer Summer
McIntosh in 3:59.39, who was the only one putting Ledecky under
pressure. She finished only about 1 second away from her time.
“I was a little nervous. [McIntosh] hung in there the whole time,
so she definitely pushed me a lot,” Ledecky said. “… Summer is
now in the sub-four-minute club, so it’s only going to get harder,
these races. So, I know I have my work cut out for me. It’s a good
steppingstone here, to just kind of have a baseline for the next couple
years moving [toward] Paris.”
The world record holder, Ariarne Titmus, did not attend this
year’s world championships. At 21 years of age, she is focused more
on winning at the Olympic level.
“I just really wanted to think about the long term,” Ariarne Titmus
said. “And I really don’t care — it doesn’t bother me that I’m not
going to be in the headlines or the media or the spotlight when the
world championships are on. That’s not why I swim. I swim because
I love it and I want to perform on the biggest stage, which for me is
the Olympic Games.”
So far, Ledecky has won another gold in the women’s 800m
freestyle, with a total of 26 gold medals in her whole career.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHptq7-blbI
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/sports/olympics/ariarnetitmus-katie-ledecky-swimmingworlds.html?searchResultPosition=1
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1655654898669x19889602
8836329280/Katie%20Ledecky%20wins%20gold%20in%20400%2
0free%20at%20world%20championships%20-%20The%20Washing
ton%20Post.pdf
400 meters race at the Budapest World Championships.
The first 50 meters of the 400 was led by an Australian swimmer
Lani Pallister, but Ledecky soon passed her and gradually built-up
distance between her and other swimmers before easily taking the
gold medal.
With a time of 3 minutes and 58.15 seconds, Ledecky was about 2
seconds away from the world record, which was set by her rival
Ariarne Titmus with a time of 3:56.40. This 400 meter gold medal
became the 16th gold of her world championship career, exceeding
other female swimmers in history by five.
The silver medal was earned by Canadian swimmer Summer
McIntosh in 3:59.39, who was the only one putting Ledecky under
pressure. She finished only about 1 second away from her time.
“I was a little nervous. [McIntosh] hung in there the whole time,
so she definitely pushed me a lot,” Ledecky said. “… Summer is
now in the sub-four-minute club, so it’s only going to get harder,
these races. So, I know I have my work cut out for me. It’s a good
steppingstone here, to just kind of have a baseline for the next couple
years moving [toward] Paris.”
The world record holder, Ariarne Titmus, did not attend this
year’s world championships. At 21 years of age, she is focused more
on winning at the Olympic level.
“I just really wanted to think about the long term,” Ariarne Titmus
said. “And I really don’t care — it doesn’t bother me that I’m not
going to be in the headlines or the media or the spotlight when the
world championships are on. That’s not why I swim. I swim because
I love it and I want to perform on the biggest stage, which for me is
the Olympic Games.”
So far, Ledecky has won another gold in the women’s 800m
freestyle, with a total of 26 gold medals in her whole career.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHptq7-blbI
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/17/sports/olympics/ariarnetitmus-katie-ledecky-swimmingworlds.html?searchResultPosition=1
https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1655654898669x19889602
8836329280/Katie%20Ledecky%20wins%20gold%20in%20400%2
0free%20at%20world%20championships%20-%20The%20Washing
ton%20Post.pdf
