Katie Ledecky Takes 400 Free World Record Down To 3:56.46 With Magical Performance

It’s never easy to compare athletes across sports. The apples vs. oranges argument immediately jumps to the forefront of the conversation, those against the approach claiming there is no way to compare what someone does on the basketball court with what someone does on the tennis court. There’s no way to measure what someone does on the golf course with what someone does in the pool.

Katie Ledecky takes a sledgehammer to the fruit.

The most dominant female athlete in the world today, and perhaps the most dominant athlete of any gender, Ledecky put on a show at the Rio Aquatics Centre, obliterating her world record in the 400 freestyle in front of a crowd of 14,000. Once Ledecky hit the water and bolted to her customary advantage, it was clear she had a unique performance ready to unveil.

In any sport, good luck finding someone as dominant and far ahead of the pack as Ledecky.

As the rest of the field battled for the minor medals, Ledecky fought the clock. Actually, she abused the timing device in one-sided fashion, delivering jabs, crosses and uppercuts that left her previous standard for dead. When Ledecky got done her eight rounds (laps), her world record was redefined at 3:56.46, almost two seconds quicker than the 3:58.37 she posted at the 2014 Pan Pacific Championships on the Gold Coast of Australia.

Ledecky had the crowd entranced for the duration of her race, all eyes fixed on the scoreboard at each turn to gauge how far she was under world-record pace. On nearly each length, Ledecky added to the margin, making her last lap a coronation of sorts, and a guessing game at her final time. Ledecky was followed for silver by Great Britain’s Jazz Carlin (4:01.23) while American Leah Smith claimed the bronze in 4:01.92.

Five weeks ago, there was little doubt that Ledecky was holding back at the United States Olympic Trials. By any standard other than her own, the 19-year-old was fast, well ahead of her domestic competition and still able to stay in the neighborhood of her best performances. In Omaha, there was a buzz over what was to come, and what type of digits Ledecky would put on the clock. Some of the predictions (fantasies?) were absurd, suggestions she’d challenge the eight-minute barrier in the 800 freestyle …

continue reading in source www.swimvortex.com