Katie Ledecky has killed the Olympics, and now it’s dead. On Friday night, the Terror in the Water—as I have taken to calling her just now—blew apart her own 800-meter record by a full two seconds.
Her dizzying victory on Friday capped off Ledecky’s unfettered ownership of the Rio Games, at which she secured four gold metals—three of which were individual—and a silver in the 4x100 relay.
That 800, though, was something special. Photos from the event show Ledecky so far ahead of the competition that she appears to be swimming alone, just splashing around in the water like a Sunday morning lap paddler at the local Y.
Ledecky pulled up to finish line at 8:04.79, 12 seconds and several body-lengths ahead of silver medalist Jazmin Carlin. She’s the first woman to sweep the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle races since Debbie Meyer did the same in Mexico in 1968.
“I had a lot of fun tonight,” Ledecky said of her win. “I just wanted to push myself and see what I could do.” Well. Now we know.
This concludes Ledecky Watch, your regular updates on the 2016 Olympics success of phenomenal swimmer Katie Ledecky.