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Out Of The Shadow Of Ledecky, USA’s Leah Smith Captures Gold In 800 Freestyle
- Updated: December 9, 2016
World S/C Championships
Windsor, Day 3
Women’s 800 Freestyle
Amid the dominance of Katie Ledecky and her untouchable status, it’s easy to lose track of the growth and exploits of those lost in the shadow of the distance legend. In that category belongs Leah Smith, who has put together quite the impressive portfolio in the distance-freestyle disciplines, only to be relegated to the background.
For at least one night, though, Smith had the chance to bask in the spotlight, as she went wire to wire to captured the gold medal in the 800 freestyle in 8:10.17, countrywoman Ashley Twichell checking in at 8:11.95 for a gold-silver showing for the United States. Of course, Ledecky was not in action in Windsor, her current focus on her collegiate season at Stanford University, and her absence allowing others the opportunity to shine.
Smith clearly took advantage of Ledecky’s missing status by surging to the front of the field and never allowing anyone in the eight-woman field to threaten. In no way was Smith’s performance a stunning effort, as it sat nearly seven seconds off the championship record of Spain’s Mireia Belmonte and nearly 11 seconds off the global standard of the Spaniard. Nonetheless, Smith was never in danger of being toppled, a lead of .27 established at the 200-meter mark and an edge of .63 booked by the midway point. Smith was .83 up on Twichell at the 600, and faster splits over the last three checkpoints took the margin into its final territory.
The bronze medal was claimed by Australia’s Kiah Melverton, who touched the wall almost five seconds back of Twichell in 8:16.51. From an overall basis, the race was missing the firepower of the past two World Champs, which produced titles from Belmonte in 2014 and New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle in 2012.
The 2016 pace compared to 2014 and 2012:
2012: 8:08.62; 8:10.99; 8:15.532014: 8:03.41; 8:08.16; 8:08.17
There’s no doubt the 2016 campaign has been a turning point in the career of Smith, a standout for the University of Virginia. At the Olympic Trials in Omaha, Smith punched her ticket to the Olympic …
