Katie Ledecky cruised to a dominant 1,500m freestyle gold in Singapore on Tuesday to claim the 22nd world title of her storied career.
The American great touched the wall in 15min 26.44sec, ahead of Simona Quadarella of Italy in 15:31.79 and Australia’s Lani Pallister in 15:41.18.
The masterful win moved all-time great Ledecky four short of Michael Phelps’s career tally of 26 world gold medals.
It also gave her the sixth world 1,500m freestyle title of her career and she paraded around the arena afterwards with the American flag.
“I love this race. This race was the race that I broke my first world record in in 2013,” said Ledecky, 28, who has won nine Olympic golds.
“Lots of great races and memories over the years at worlds. I’m happy I could do it in Singapore.”
Ledecky was the red-hot favourite going into the race, having qualified for the final over 10 seconds faster than nearest challenger Pallister.
She also went into the race owning the top 24 1,500m freestyle times ever, and set the second-fastest time in history in April behind her own record.
Ledecky and Pallister broke clear of the rest of the field early on, with the Australian determined to keep close to the American.
Both were on world record pace at the 500m mark before Ledecky began to leave Pallister behind.
Ledecky was in a class of her own from there on, with the world record still within sight.
That prospect drained away in the closing stages but by that time the gold was in the bag.
“Lani took it out there. I knew she would be out fast and I just wanted to get out fast, but comfortable enough that I could go from there,” said Ledecky.
“I’m happy with the time and happy with the swim.”
The victory gave Ledecky her first gold medal of the championships, after picking up a bronze behind Summer McIntosh in the 400m freestyle on Sunday’s opening night.
Ledecky is set to go head-to-head with Canadian phenomenon McIntosh again in Singapore in the 800m freestyle.
Ledecky’s win came against the backdrop of a gastroenteritis outbreak in the American team, which managing director Greg Meehan said had affected the “overwhelming majority” of the squad.
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© Agence France-Presse
