Ledecky, Walsh cap Pro Swim meet with world records

MIAMI: Katie Ledecky broke her longstanding world record in the 800m freestyle and Gretchen Walsh lowered her 100m butterfly world mark twice in one day as the Tyr Pro Swim meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida concluded on Saturday.

Nine-time Olympic gold medallist Ledecky clocked 8min 4.12sec to win the 800m freestyle -- the event that catapulted her to stardom when she won it at the 2012 London Olympics when she was 15.

Ledecky, 28, improved on the previous record of 8:04.79 that she set at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on August 12, 2016. The performance capped a stellar week for Ledecky, who hadn´t broken a long-course world record since 2018. “I can´t stop smiling,” she said. “It has been so many years in the making to do it tonight... I flipped at the 750 and it was loud in here and I just told myself I´m not letting this opportunity go to waste and started sprinting.”

Ledecky posted the second-fastest 1,500m free in history on Wednesday and swam the second-fastest 400m free of her career a day later -- all signalling that she remains a force with the World Championships in Singapore approaching on July 27-August 3. Jillian Cox was second, 19.46sec back on 8:23.58. Claire Weinstein was third in 8:26.06.

Ledecky said she was “fired up” after her 1,500m free triumph, which launched her first elite competition since the Paris Olympics last year. In Paris, she won the 1,500m free and also claimed a fourth straight 800m free gold as she equalled the record for most gold medals won by a woman athlete in any sport.

She owns the 10 fastest 800m free times in history, with Canadian Summer McIntosh the second-fastest performer with her career-best time of 8:09.86. She credited Walsh with “starting a world record party”.

Walsh became the first woman to break 55 seconds in the 100m butterfly, winning Saturday´s final in a jaw-dropping world record of 54.60sec. That came hours after she lowered her own world record with a swim of 55.09sec in the preliminaries, improving on the 55.18 she set at the US Olympic trials in Indianapolis last June.

The American settled for silver in the event at the Paris Olympics behind teammate Torri Huske, who was a distant second in Saturday´s final in 56.59. Walsh´s 100m fly exploits came a day after the two-time Olympic relay gold medallist joined Sweden´s Sarah Sjostrom as the only women to break 25 seconds for the 50m butterfly, clocking 24.93 to win the final. France´s Leon Marchand, who starred at the Paris Olympics with four individual gold medals, departed Fort Lauderdale without a victory. The 22-year-old closed his campaign with a runner-up finish to Shaine Casas in the 200m individual medley -- one of his gold medal events in Paris.