American Katie Ledecky further cemented her name in swim history with a gold medal in the 1,500-meter freestyle, a race that made its Olympic debut.
TOKYO — American Katie Ledecky further cemented her name in swim history with a gold medal in the 1,500-meter freestyle, a race that made its Olympic debut in Tokyo. Ledecky’s gold-medal swim was done in 15:37:34, and her American teammate Erica Sullivan came in second about four seconds later. German Sarah Kohler won the bronze. The 1,500-meter freestyle had previously only been available to men at the Olympics. But this year, as the Games became more gender-equal, the distance race was opened up to women. In a post-race interview on NBC, Ledecky said she knew this race « was going to be tough, » especially because she had swum in the 200-meter freestyle final about an hour earlier, but pushed herself through.
