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WOMEN’S 800 FREE – FINALS
2013 World Champion: Katie Ledecky, USA – 8:13.86
World Record: 8:11.00 –Katie Ledecky, USA – 2014
Championship Record: 8:13.86 – Katie Ledecky, USA – 2013
GOLD: Katie Ledecky, USA – 8:07.39 WR
SILVER: Lauren Boyle, NZL – 8:17.65
BRONZE: Jaz Carlin, GBR – 8:18.85
KATIE LEDECKY!!! WOW! I am out of words after watching Ledecky destroy her own World record in the women’s 800 freestyle, posting a time of 8:07.39. She went out after hit, and it was evident with her splits. She flipped at the 400 meter mark at 4:03.22; a time that was still faster than everyone else in the individual 400 freestyle earlier in the week. She lowered her record by 3.61 seconds, becoming the first woman ever under 8:10.
Lauren Boyle broke the Oceanian record to earn the silver medal despite finishing more than ten seconds behind the World Champion, Ledecky. Jaz Carlin earned the bronze medal with her time of 8:18.15.
Jessica Ashwood was in the hunt, but just missed the podium with her time of 8:18.41.
Lotte Friis and Boglarka Kapas finished fifth and sixth at 8:21 and 8:22, respectively, and Sarah Kohler and Sharon Van Rouwendaal rounded out the final.
Infuriating… we can’t even get a full race video of the 800 when it’s the best swim of all time.
It is very interesting though – her strategy of almost not kicking at all. I guess they have figured that kicking is not worth the energy unless it is going all out the last 50.
I’m also curious about her stroke count. She seems to get roughly the same distance per stroke as her competitors. Her turnover rate appears to be the difference maker, but there wasn’t really enough race video to tell.
I, too, would like to know where one can go (in the U.S. internet universe) to find a full race video of this or almost any of the other races from the 2015 world championships. What’s labelled “race video” is only a brief package of highlights from NBC that give you almost no sense of the race or the racers in question.
Always knew that Ledecky was really good… but not THAT good lol
800m Free in less than 2:19.00 (duration of above race video) – my my that is some WR!!! :p
But then again comes as no surprise seeing that this is NBC/USN… 😉
If she were FREE to race 800m on the track, I believe she could do it in under 2 min 19 sec.