RIO DE JANEIRO — Katie Ledecky has given the United States its first swimming gold medal of the Rio Olympics with a world record in the women’s 400-meter freestyle.
The result was totally expected. Ledecky has dominated the longer freestyle events since winning gold in the 800 free at the London Olympics as a 15-year-old.
She was doing nothing but racing against the clock Sunday night. No problem there.
Ledecky kicked off the first wall with a lead of nearly a body length and steadily pulled away from the overmatched field — as well as the world-record line superimposed on the video screen as her powerful arms churned through the water.
When Ledecky saw the time — 3 minutes, 56.46 seconds — she let out an uncharacteristic scream and pumped her right fist. The 19-year-old crushed the mark of 3:58.37 that she set nearly two years ago on the Gold Coast of Australia, and had been chasing ever since.
The United States’ second gold came not long after its first when Caeleb Dressel, Michael Phelps, Ryan Held and Nathan Adrian captured gold in the men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay. It was Phelps’ 19th career Olympic gold medal.
France claimed the silver and Australia took the bronze.