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August 25, 2014

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Ledecky breaks another world record at Pan Pacs

AMERICAN teenager Katie Ledecky broke her second world record in less than 24 hours while Michael Phelps suffered a rare defeat at the Pan Pacific championships in Australia yesterday.

Ledecky hacked almost six seconds off her 1,500 meters freestyle world mark, which she set in Texas in June, when she charged through the 30-lap event in 15 minutes, 28.36 seconds.

The 17-year-old finished almost half a minute ahead of her nearest rival ­— an almost unimaginable margin in a sport where medals are often decided by hundredths of seconds — to collect her fifth title of the championships.

Ledecky broke her 400 world record on Saturday and came within a whisker of eclipsing her 800 world best on Thursday.

She also won the 200 individual event and anchored the United States to victory in the 4x200 to emerge as the biggest winner of the four-day meet at Gold Coast.

Ledecky’s performances have caught the eye of Phelps, who said: “She’s a stud. Watching her swim, it’s remarkable.”

Phelps picked up his third gold medal of the meet when he helped the US win the 4x100 medley relay after he was surprisingly beaten in the 200 individual medley, an event he had won at the last three Olympics before his short-lived retirement after London 2012.

Still struggling to find his best, Phelps was touched out by Japan’s Kosuke Hagino, who got his hand on the wall first in 1:56.02 to claim his second gold after also winning the 400 IM.

Phelps finished just 0.02 behind Hagino.




 

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