Ledecky, King shine in worlds

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Katie Ledecky breezed to her third gold medal of the swimming world championships, backing off a bit on her most grueling night of the meet.

It was left to Lilly King, Kylie Masse and Adam Peaty to take down the swimming record book — and King to claim another impressive triumph over her Russian rival.

Ledecky won the 1500-meter freestyle by more than half the length of the pool Tuesday and returned 49 minutes later to post the fastest time in the semifinals of the 200 free.

“It’s hard the other 364 days of the year,” the U.S. star said, barely breathing hard. “It’s putting the work in for practice, so when I get to this day of the meet, I can just do it.”

King made it 2-0 over Yulia Efimova with a world-record performance in what has become one of swimming’s most compelling rivalries.

Efimova nearly broke Ruta Meilutyte’s 4-year-old record in the semifinals, giving her the prime lane in the middle of the pool. But King, racing right beside her, was the one who came through again when it really counted. She got off to a blistering start and led all the way, touching in 1 minute, 4.13 seconds to shave 0.22 off the Lithuanian’s mark from the 2013 worlds in Barcelona.

King defiantly pounded the water when she saw the “WR” beside her time, then turned to congratulate the runner-up: American teammate Katie Meili, who edged the Russian for the silver.

Peaty, Britain’s breaststroke lion with the tattoo to match, broke a pair of 50-meter breaststroke marks — one in the morning preliminaries, another in the evening semifinals.