Sun avenges Rio Horton with 400m world title
budapest — China’s Sun Yang won the men’s 400m freestyle final in emphatic style at the world aquatic championships on Sunday, as his bitter Rio Games rival Mack Horton trailed home a distant second.
Sun clocked 3min 41.38sec to claim gold well ahead of the Olympic champion Horton, who had previously dubbed his rival a dope cheat, as the Australian took silver some 2.47 seconds adrift.
Italy’s Gabriele Detti took bronze at 2.55sec.
It was sweet revenge for Sun, who splashed the water and gave a triumphant roar, having been beaten by Horton in the 400m final at last year’s Rio Olympics following a war of words between the pair.
Horton had dubbed Sun a ‘drugs cheat’ after the Chinese served a three-month ban in 2014 after testing positive for a stimulant. In turn, Sun accused his Australian rival of ‘dirty tricks’ to try and put the freestyle specialist off his game.
Sun’s victory in Budapest means he now has eight world gold medals spanning four championships dating back to Shanghai in 2011.
Meanwhile, Katie Ledecky claimed her first gold medal of the world championships Sunday, cruising to a dominating win in the women’s 400-metre freestyle though she failed to break her own world record.
As expected, the 20-year-old American pulled away on the very first lap and was essentially racing the clock the rest of the way. She finished in 3 minutes, 58.34 seconds — more than 3 seconds ahead of U.S. teammate Leah Smith. China’s Li Bingjie took the bronze.
Ledecky has set such a high standard that her time was a bit of a letdown. She finished nearly 2 seconds off the world record (3:56.46) she set at the Rio Olympics.
Of course, Ledecky likely wanted to conserve energy for her second event of the night, swimming the third leg of the 4x100 free relay. It’s all part of her audacious goal to win six gold medals covering 6,300 Metres in Budapest.
Ledecky didn’t have much of a reaction after touching the wall, but she eventually broke into a big smile and hugged Smith. Then, it was off to get ready for the relay.
“I have no exact target for the week,” the 25-year-old Sun said through an interpreter. “I’m in a lot of pain. I’ve been training a lot for the last year. I’m also getting old, so there are a couple of injuries here and there. I’m always wrapped up in tape after every competition.”
The Chinese star finished more than two body lengths ahead of the field, touching the wall in 3:41.38. Horton settled for the silver, far back at 3:43.85, while Park finished fourth behind bronze medalist Gabriele Detti of Italy.
“I’m just going to focus on what’s happening this week and do my best,” Sun said.
Horton shrugged off his loss to Sun, saying “the most disappointing thing for me was the time.”
“Placings didn’t really matter this year,” the runner-up said. “This is the first year after an Olympics, so I was basically resetting my cycle for the next Olympics in a couple of years. I just would have liked a faster time, but I guess it means I have stuff I can work on over the next couple of years.”