Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Jared Anderson.
Katie Ledecky has done it again. Anticipation had been building for this race ever since she pulled an amazing 100 free/400 free double on day 1, and Ledecky topped all of this weekend’s races with her last one, smashing her own world record with an absurd 8:06.68. We’ll have more coverage coming to properly cover all the aspects of Ledecky’s dominance, but as a teaser, that swim is a full 7 seconds faster than anyone else in history, and Ledecky now owns the fastest 8 swims in all of history in the 800 free.
Second went to 18-year-old Becca Mann at 8:24.49, which is a solid mid-season swim for her. Mann, a high school senior who will attend USC next year, is in the hunt for the second U.S. Olympic spot behind Ledecky this summer.
North Baltimore’s Lotte Friis took third in 8:27.23, with Virginia NCAA star Leah Smith going 8:28.31 for fourth.
Smith’s former ACC rival Stephanie Peacock, a North Carolina alum, went 8:31.90 for fifth, and Cierra Runge, who set an NCAA 1650 free record for Cal last year before transferring to Wisconsin, was 8:36.76 to take sixth.
Rounding out the top 8: North Baltimore’s Sierra Schmidt (8:38.73) and Triangle Aquatic’s Ashley Twichell (8:41.23), who was the top swimmer out of the afternoon heats.
Wow ! …… nothing more to say ……..
She is ridiculously from a world of her own – Amazing , splendid , fascinating – but definitely making motivation difficult for all other competitors when she is in the pool . Thumps Up for 2016 , Ledecky will be the swimmer of Rio .