Kathleen Ledecky wins gold as women's 1500m freestyle makes Olympic debut

After the ups and downs in the hours leading up to the event Kathleen Ledecky of the United States became the first Olympic gold medallist in the womens 1500m freestyle after winning in a time of 153734 here on Wednesday morningKathleens teammate Erica Sullivan claimed silver in 154141 Sarah Kohler took bronze for Germany in 154291 Wang Jianjiahe of China ranked fourth with 154637Im so happy to go onetwo with Erica It is the first womens 1500m freestyle in Olympic history so I couldnt have a better outcome than that Im so so happy said Kathleen reports XinhuaEarlier in the morning on Wednesday Kathleen failed to continue her goldwinning streak in the womens 200m freestyle by ranking fifthAfter the 200m I knew I had to turn the page very quickly and in the warmdown pool I was just thinking of my family Each stroke I was thinking of my grandparents Theyre the toughest four people I know and thats what helped me get through that Kathleen replied on her emotions after crying with joy in the poolAlso Read Tokyo Olympics PV Sindhu marches into elimination round after beating Ngan YiBefore its debut in the Olympic programme in Tokyo the womens 1500m freestyle has featured at the world championships since 2001 The current world record holder Katie Ledecky has won the most world titles in this event taking gold in 2013 2015 and 2017 She withdrew because of illness in 2019Ariarne Titmus won the gold for Australia in the womens 200m freestyle setting a new Olympic record at 15350 Australia has won three gold medals in the womens 200m freestyle at the Olympic Games in 1972 2000 and Tokyo 2020Siobhan Bernadette Haughey clinched silver as the first ever Olympic swimming medal for Hong Kong Penny Oleksiak took bronze for CanadaIm really happy and really excited I worked hard for this for the last five years The medal means so much Haughey said about her silverYui Ohashi won the womens 200m individual medley gold for Japan in 20852 Ohashi had won the womens 400m individual medley on July 25 becoming the first Japanese woman to win two gold medals at a single Olympic Games also the first Japanese woman to win two Olympic gold medals in swimmingAlex Walsh claimed silver for United States with teammate Kate Douglas took bronze World record holder Katinka Hosszu only ranked seventh with 21238Britain won its first Olympic gold medal in the mens 4x200m freestyle relay with 65858 The Russian Olympic Committee team and Australia took the silver 70181 and the bronze 70184 respectivelyBritain were world champions in the mens 4x200m freestyle relay in 2015 and 2017 and now recorded their first Olympic gold in the eventKristof Milak of Hungary added an Olympic gold to his world title and world record in the mens 200m butterfly after hitting a time of 15125 to post a new Olympic recordMy suit tore 10 minutes before the start of the race just before entering the call room At that moment I knew that the world record was gone because I was totally off focus said MilakMilak won the mens 200m butterfly at the world championships in 2019 in a world record time of 15073 becoming the first and so far the only person to go under one minute and 51 secondsTomoru Honda won Japan a silver at 15375 while the bronze went to Italys Federico Burdisso at 15445Also Read Indian badminton great Nandu Natekar passes away at age 88This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever