Americans making a big splash
Phelps earns 19th gold medal with relay win; Ledecky crushes her world record in 400 free
RIO DE JANEIRO — Michael Phelps has to clear out more space in his medal case.
Time to make room for gold No. 19.
With yet another dazzling performance, the most decorated athlete in Olympic history added to his staggering haul Sunday night in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, giving the United States a lead it never relinquished.
Defending Olympic champion France was leading when Phelps dove into the water on the second leg, taking over for leadoff swimmer Caeleb Dressel. Even though the 100 free isn’t one of his specialties — he never has swam it at the Olympics — he blazed down and back in a stunning 47.12 seconds, a time that was faster than all but the three anchors on the medalwinning teams, three of the best in the world at that distance.
Ryan Held protected the lead before giving way to Nathan Adrian, America’s best sprinter.
At that point, it wasn’t really in doubt.
But Phelps wasn’t taking any chances, pounding the starting block and shouting toward Adrian as the anchor made the turn for home.
When Adrian touched the wall first, posting a winning time of 3 minutes, 9.92 seconds, Phelps thrust his right arm in the air and looked toward his infant son Boomer, nuzzling in the arms of his mother Nicole Johnson, the roaring crowd blocked out by noisecanceling headphones.
Russian team draws boos
France took the silver in 3:10.53; Australia claimed the bronze in 3:11.37, holding off a Russian team that was booed during the introductions — a reminder of the drug scandal that has rocked the nation. Vladimir Morozov, initially banned from the Olympics, was one of Russia’s relay swimmers.
It was quite a night for the Americans, who were shut out on the golds on the opening night of swimming.
Racing nothing but the clock, Katie Ledecky gave the U.S. its first victory by crushing her world record in the 400 freestyle.
The result was totally expected. The Stanford freshman from Bethesda, Md., has dominated the longer freestyle events since winning gold in the 800 free at the London Olympics as a 15-year-old.
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.
Her arms churning effortlessly through the water, Ledecky touched nearly five seconds ahead of her closest pursuer and whipped around to look at the scoreboard.
When Ledecky saw the time — 3:56.46 — she let out an uncharacteristic scream and shook her right fist. She crushed the mark of 3:58.37 that she set nearly two years ago on the Gold Coast of Australia and had been chasing since.
“I was pumped,” Ledecky said. “That’s what I wanted, and I had been so close to breaking that all year, the past two years. I knew I was due for a breakthrough.”
Ledecky, from Bethesda, Md., set an Olympic record in her heat earlier in the day.
“It felt like a similar swim to this morning,” she said. “I knew I had a lot left at the end this morning.”
Ledecky, who won’t turn 20 until March, consistently swims the 400 freestyle in under four minutes, having set the world record now three times. Her time Sunday was more than seven seconds faster than the world record set by Janet Evans in Seoul in 1988. That record stood for 18 years. Plus, Ledecky’s time would have set the record and won gold in the men’s event in the 1972 Olympics (the men’s current record is 3:32.25).
And she is just getting warmed up.
Ledecky, who added gold to the silver she won in the women’s 4x100 free relay, also is favored in other two individual events — the 200 and 800 free. In addition, she could pick up another gold in the 4x200 free relay.
Other marks fall, too
It was a night of world records in the Rio pool.
Britain’s Adam Peaty set his second mark in as many nights in the 100 breaststroke; Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden eclipsed her mark in the 100 butterfly.
Peaty won with a time of 57.13 that shattered the mark of 57.55 he set in the preliminaries. He cruised away from Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa, the defending Olympic champion who took silver this time in 58.69. The bronze went to Cody Miller of the United States, whose time of 58.87 held off teammate Kevin Cordes.
Sjostrom led right from the start of the fly and touched in 55.48, knocking off the mark of 55.64 she established at last year’s world championships..
Penny Oleksiak of Canada took the silver in 56.46, edging defending Olympic champion Dana Vollmer. The American, who had her first child 17 months ago, settled for the bronze in 56.63.