After 2016, Ledecky breaks her world record in 800m

Katie Ledecky broke her longstanding world record in the 800m freestyle and Gretchen Walsh lowered her 100m butterfly world mark twice in one day as the Tyr Pro Swim meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida concluded on Saturday.

- Agencies

MIAMI: Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Ledecky clocked 8min 4.12sec to win the 800m freestyle -- the event that catapulted her to stardom when she won it at the 2012 London Olympics when she was 15.

Ledecky, 28, improved on the previous record of 8:04.79 that she set at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on August 12, 2016. The performance capped a stellar week for Ledecky, who hadn't broken a long-course world record since 2018. "I can't stop smiling," she said. "It has been so many years in the making to do it tonight... I flipped at the 750 and it was loud in here and I just told myself I'm not letting this opportunity go to waste and started sprinting."