Katie Ledecky checks her time during a women’s 800-meter freestyle. (AP)
Katie Ledecky has been so unstoppable at the Rio Olympics, sportswriters and pundits are in danger of running out of ways to describe how awesome she is. Honestly, in the pool, the American swimmer is a force of nature who literally seems to eat world records for breakfast.
Already, she has stormed her way to three gold medals and one silver and could still win more, having qualified for Friday’s 800-meter freestyle final.
On Thursday at the preliminary heats for the 800, Ledecky was back doing what she does best, tearing up the lanes and leaving her competition in the dust. In fact, she set a new Olympic record of 8:12.86 in the women’s 800 freestyle preliminary heats.
If there was any doubt as to just how dominant the 17-year-old American has been in Rio, new photos posted on NBC Olympics’ Twitter account illustrate just how far back in her wake Ledecky left the competition in the heats.
 | @NBCOlympics | |
 | ||
That’s a distance of roughly six body lengths between Ledecky and the rest of the heat.
Here she is winning the heat.
| @NBCOlympics | |
 | ||
Considering she won the 800 four years ago by finishing 4.13 seconds faster than silver medalist Mireia Belmonte Garcia, and that she now owns the 12 fastest times ever in the event, to say Ledecky is the favorite to win it again Friday is a huge understatement. How huge an understatement?
Well, with the 19-year-old having roughly put the distance of a Rio city bus between her and her competition, let’s just call it a pretty big understatement, OK? In fact, the question doesn’t really seem like one of if Ledecky will win the 800 on Friday, but rather, why don’t they just award her the gold medal now?
No comments:
Post a Comment