Katie Ledecky finished her work at the World Swimming Championships with more of the same.
A world record and a historic achievement.
In breaking her own world mark for the 800-meter freestyle Saturday in Kazan, Russia, the 18-year-old from Bethesda, Md. became the first swimmer to win four individual freestyle gold medals at a single world meet.
She had already won the 200, 400 and 1,500 – and a gold on the 4 x 200 free relay.
Ledecky’s time, 8 minutes, 7.39 seconds, was well under the 8:11 she had clocked last season. She won the race by a whopping 10.26 seconds over Lauren Boyle of New Zealand, the largest margin of victory in the event in world meet history. The previous largest margin was 6.15 seconds by Janet Evans in 1991.
It was Ledecky’s third world record swim of the meet and 10th in the last three seasons.
She set two world records in the 1,500 at this worlds.
