One hour and 13 minutes after she competed in the 200 free final, Katie Ledecky was back in the water.
This time, it was to win the inaugural women’s 1500-meter freestyle Olympic gold.
OLYMPIC HISTORY IS MADE‼️@katieledecky wins the first-EVER Olympic gold medal in the women's 1500m free and teammate Erica Sullivan wins the silver.@TeamUSA x #TokyoOlympics #OlympicHERstory pic.twitter.com/fTLlcWFgEg— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2021
OLYMPIC HISTORY IS MADE‼️@katieledecky wins the first-EVER Olympic gold medal in the women's 1500m free and teammate Erica Sullivan wins the silver.@TeamUSA x #TokyoOlympics #OlympicHERstory pic.twitter.com/fTLlcWFgEg
The World Record holder, Ledecky had a strong showing, leading from start to finish. Her time of 15:37.34 was just off of her 15:35.35 she swam in prelims to set the Olympic Record in the event.
Teammate Erica Sullivan came back from behind to touch in a time of 15:41.41 to earn the silver medal and secure the 1-2 finish for the Americans in the first-ever 1500-meter freestyle. Third-place finisher Sarah Kohler of Germany broke the German National Record to give Germany its first pool swimming medal since 2008.
Ledecky is back in action Thursday with the prelims of the 800-meter freestyle.