Katie Ledecky Dominates 800M Freestyle Final, Qualifies for Tokyo Olympics
Katie Ledecky had one test left at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska, this week with the 800-meter freestyle.
Of course, she easily aced this one, too.
In Ledecky's signature event, the 800-meter, the 24-year-old cruised to an easy win, finishing in 8:14.62—nearly six seconds faster than the second-place finisher and just 10 seconds off the world record.
Katie Grimes, 15, took second place at 8:20.36—immediately earning the praise of Ledecky before even getting out of the pool.
The Washington D.C. native is now the fifth woman to swim four individual events at the Olympics, joining Shirley Babashoff, Summer Sanders, Katie Hoff and Missy Franklin, per Bill Mallon of Olympedia.org (h/t NBC Sports' Nick Zaccardi). Ledecky entered Saturday having already won the 400 freestyle, 200 freestyle and 1500 freestyle in Omaha. She's also joining the 4x200 free relay team in Tokyo.
A win in each event would make her the first American woman to win five golds in a single Olympics.
Watching Ledecky swim remained as thrilling as ever Saturday as the veteran of two Olympics Games surged ahead of the field after just two laps, pulling away until she was the only swimmer who could fit in the TV broadcast frame as the race for second place became the only question remaining.
Ledecky already owns five Olympic gold medals. She could end up matching that total in a few weeks after her performance in Omaha.
