Katie Ledecky continued to accumulate her gold medal collection on Monday after setting a record for extending her 17th world championship title with the victory in the 1500m freestyle.
Ledecky, who won the women’s 400m freestyle on the opening day of the championships, reached the gold medal with a time of 15 minutes and 30.15 seconds. The 25-year-old American finished more than 14 seconds ahead of compatriot Katie Grimes, who took the silver. Australian Lani Pallister won bronze.
The victory gave Ledecky the twentieth medal of the world championship, equaling the women’s record set by compatriot Natalie Coughlin.
“It’s quite wild because I have the feeling that yesterday I was in Barcelona in my first worlds. It’s great to represent the U.S. team year after year, it’s an honor and a privilege, and that’s why I work hard, ”he said.
Elsewhere on Monday, Romanian teenager David Popovici confirmed his status as one of the sport’s most exciting emerging talents after producing intense swimming to win gold in the men’s 200m freestyle.
Popovici, 17, has been making comparisons with some of the greats of swimming with his dominant performances in the junior championships and has surpassed a strong field in the 200-meter freestyle for a victory that heralded his arrival in the elite. .
The Bucharest athlete, who finished fourth in Tokyo, became the first Romanian swimmer to win gold at the world championships, finishing with a time of 1: 43.21, a new world youth record. He finished more than a second ahead of South Korean Hwang Sun-woo, while reigning British Olympic champion Tom Dean finished third.
“People at home believed in me. This medal is for them, “said Popovici. “Now I’m going to recover and prepare for the 100-meter race,” he said in the face of the clash with Olympic champion Caeleb Dressel.
Italy enjoyed a memorable session at the Dune Arena with Thomas Ceccon breaking the world record in the men’s 100m backstroke and Benedetta Pilato, 17, winning the women’s 100m breaststroke.
Italy’s joy began when Ceccon, 21, finished the 100m backstroke with a phenomenal time of 51.60 seconds, 0.25 seconds better than the previous mark of the American Ryan Murphy. Murphy, a four-time Olympic gold medalist, finished second while compatriot Hunter Armstrong was third.
“I have no words, there was an Olympic champion in 2016 [Murphy] and other strong people. I’m pretty happy, “said Ceccon.
The women’s 100m breaststroke was without Olympic champion Lydia Jacoby and Tokyo silver medalist Tatjana Schoenmaker i Pilato made the most of it.
“I’m super happy, it was my dream and it came true tonight,” Pilate said excitedly as he burst into tears, unable to finish his post-race interview.