Pellegrini topples Ledecky in 200
Print Edition
KATIE Ledecky said defeat in the women’s 200-meter freestyle final yesterday will motivate her “for a couple of years”, after Italy’s Federica Pellegrini snatched gold at the FINA world championships.
Pellegrini touched the wall first at 1 minute, 54.73 seconds with American Ledecky, the reigning world and Olympic champion, and Australia’s Emma McKeon sharing silver as they both clocked 1:55.18.
Having become the first female swimmer to win 12 world titles with victory in the 1,500 freestyle final in Budapest on Tuesday, Ledecky had been the favorite in the 200 final, but lost on the wall.
This is the first time in 13 finals, spanning three world championships and four years, that Ledecky has not finished with a gold medal and she says the defeat will motivate her for years to come.
“I knew it was going to be a tough field, but I can’t complain with the silver,” said the 20-year-old Ledecky. “I don’t know what it was, I’ll have to review the race video and see what I could have done better. That will light some fire under me for the next couple of years.”
The silver means she won’t match compatriot Missy Franklin’s female record of six gold medals at the 2013 worlds.
McKeon went out hard, leading at the first turn with Ledecky only fifth after the first 50 meters. Ledecky powered through the field and when she touched the wall second to McKeon at the final turn, it looked like the gold would go to one of the pair.
However, the 28-year-old Pellegrini, the 2008 Beijing Olympic champion in this event, put in a powerful final 50 meters to snatch the gold on the wall.
Home favorite Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, who had retained her 200 individual medley title on Monday, finished only 7th.
In the next final, Chad le Clos of South Africa won the men’s 200 butterfly gold medal.
Le Clos, the 2012 Olympic champion, clocked 1:53.33, with Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh, 0.39 seconds behind, taking silver and Japan’s Daiya Seto earning bronze at 0.88sec.
Earlier in the day, world records continued to fall as the American quartet in the mixed 4x100 medley relay lowered the mark in blistering fashion.
Four world records were set on Tuesday and fast racing was plainly evident the morning as the US team of Ryan Murphy, Kevin Cordes, Kelsi Worrell and Mallory Comerford posted 3:40.28 ahead of the final later.
The US time smashed the mark set by Britain at the 2015 championships in Kazan, Russia, by 1.43 seconds as they qualified nearly four seconds ahead of the field.
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