High marks
American teen sets 1,500 freestyle mark
Four world records were set in the first two days of the world swimming championships — all by women. American Katie Ledecky improved her own world record in the 1500 freestyle.
The women are getting it done at the world swimming championships.
Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden lowered her own world record in the 100-meter butterfly to win gold Monday night, and then Katinka Hosszu of Hungary erased a world mark from the hightech suit era to claim the 200 individual medley.
Earlier Monday, American teenager Katie Ledecky bettered her own world record in the 1,500 freestyle preliminaries.
Four world records set in the first two days of pool swimming — and all by women.
“Unbelievable,” American Ryan Lochte said. “I’m glad to see world records get broken. It gets more people behind swimming, so that’s awesome.”
Ledecky completed the 1,500-meter freestyle in 15 minutes, 27.71 seconds, shaving 0.65 seconds off the mark she set at last year’s Pan Pacific championships in Australia.
“I’m in quite a bit of shock right now,” Ledecky said. “I was barely even focusing on this morning’s swim. I was so relaxed. ... I realized kind of toward the end because I could see people waving.”
It’s the fourth time Ledecky has broken the record in the 1,500, and she’ll have a chance to improve it again in today’s final.
Ledecky also holds world marks in the 400 and 800 free. She was just off her record pace in winning the 400 free Sunday.
Sjostrom first broke the mark set by American Dana Vollmer at the 2012 London Olympics in the semifinals on Sunday. In the final, the Swede led at the turn and won by a body length, touching in 55.64 seconds. She dipped a hundredth of a second lower than her mark a day earlier while finishing 1.41 seconds ahead of Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark.
Hosszu defended her 2013 title in the 200 IM, winning in 2 minutes, 6.12 seconds. That bettered the old mark of 2:06.15 set by American Ariana Kukors at the 2009 worlds in Rome during a time when the sport was rocked by swimmers setting a slew of world records in rubber suits that were eventually banned.
Kanako Watanabe of Japan earned silver in 2:08.45 and Siobhan O’Connor of Britain took bronze in 2:08.77.
American Maya Di Rado was fourth and teammate Melanie Margalis finished seventh.
Lochte was the leading qualifier for the 200 freestyle final tonight that features a loaded field including Sun Yang of China, Chad le Clos of South Africa, world record holder Paul Biedermann of Germany, James Guy of Britain and Cam McEvoy of Australia.