Katie Ledecky sets female record for most swimming worlds medals

Katie Ledecky continues to break records, becoming the most decorated female worlds swimmer in history with 21 career medals.

She was a member of the 200-meter freestyle relay that won gold on Wednesday, throwing down the third-fastest split in history and the fastest of her career in a time of 1 minutes, 53.67 seconds. Alongside Claire Weinstein, Leah Smith and Bella Sims, the U.S. set a new championship record time of 7:41.45.

Australia took silver in 7:43.86, while Canada claimed bronze in 7:44.76.

A championship record for @TeamUSA!

The women's 4x200m freestyle relay team set a championship record to win gold!@USASwimming x #FINABudapest2022 pic.twitter.com/7weRsYnRft

— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) June 22, 2022

Ledecky has now broken her tie with Natalie Coughlin for the most medals in world championships history by a woman. Only Michael Phelps (33) and Ryan Lochte (27) have more total medals.

With 18 gold medals, Ledecky also has tied Lochte for the second-most and sits behind Phelps, who had 26 in his career.

Also on Wednesday, 15-year-old Summer McIntosh won gold in the 200 butterfly with a world junior record time of 2:05.20. She is now the youngest individual world championships gold medalist since 2011 when Ye Shiwen won the 200 IM.

Team USA’s Hali Flickinger took silver, while China’s Zhang Yufei earned bronze.