KATE LEDECKY RESPONDED to a shock defeat in the women’s 200-metre freestyle by anchoring the United States’ victory in the 4x200m relay for her 13th FINA World Championships gold today.
The 20-year-old was beaten at a World Championships for the first time yesterday, missing out on 200m freestyle gold in Budapest to Federica Pellegrini.
But she returned to the top of the podium as her final leg secured a win for the US in a time of seven minutes and 43.39 seconds, with China taking silver and Australia the bronze.
“I really just got rid of the negative energy,” Ledecky said afterward on NBCSN. “I knew I had a big race for Team USA. That made it easy to get focused.”
The Hungarian fans were unable to cheer another win for three-time Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu, who had to settle for bronze in the women’s 200m butterfly. Mireia Belmonte followed up her Rio 2016 gold in the event with victory, while Franziska Hentke earned the silver.
Etiene Medeiros became the first Brazilian woman to triumph at the World Championships with glory in the 50m backstroke.
There was further cause for US celebrations with Chase Kalisz winning the men’s 200m individual medley and Caeleb Dressel topping the podium in the men’s 100m free.