American swimmer Katie Ledecky equaled Michael Phelps on Tuesday by reaching gold number 15 of her career in World Swimming Championships, winning the 1,500 freestyle, and medal number 24 in World Championships of her career.
Ledecky remains unopposed in the long distance and was imperial in Fukuoka, with the third fastest mark in history, 15.16.27 minutes, to reach the 15th gold also held only by Phelps.
In addition, the 26-year-old American has not lost at an Olympic or World Games over this distance in more than a decade, with a fifth gold medal, and on Saturday she could win a record six world titles in the 800 freestyle.
Today, the Italian Simona Quadarella was second, finishing 17 seconds behind the winner, Ledecky’s dominance mark, with the Chinese Li Bingjie in third, at 19.
In addition, the day featured another important victory for the Americans, when Ryan Murphy defeated the Italian Thomas Ceccon, champion of the 50 butterfly ahead of Diogo Ribeiro, in the 100 backstroke, in which the transalpine is the world record holder.
Murphy, also favorite in the 200 meters, swam the distance in 52.22 seconds, faster than Ceccon (52.27), second, and another American, Hunter Armstrong (52.58), third.
In the 100-meter breaststroke, Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte confirmed the favoritism by winning with 1:04.62 minutes, while Australian Kaylee McKeown was crowned world champion in the 100-meter backstroke.
In the 200-meter freestyle, the British Matthew Richards, new world champion, and Tom Dean, second, dominated the distance, with the South Korean Hwang Sunwoo in third place, leaving Romanian David Popovici in fourth position off the podium.
The World Swimming Championships will take place until next Sunday in Fukuoka, Japan.
Source: TSF
