Tokyo 2020: Katie Ledecky wins sixth Olympic gold after 200m defeat

US swimmer Katie Ledecky claimed a sixth Olympic gold, and her first Tokyo gold, in the 1500m freestyle, an hour after the worst performance in her Olympic career.

In the women’s 200m freestyle, Ledecky’s weakest format, she finished fifth, with the gold going to Australia’s Ariarne Titmus. Titmus won in one minute 53.50 seconds, while Ledecky finished fifth. Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey won silver, while Canada’s Penny Oleksiak took bronze.

It is the first time she has finished outside of the top-two positions in her Olympic career, and the first time in 36 international finals appearances that she has not won a medal.

However, an hour later, she took part in her favoured event, the 1500m freestyle, and she led from the start. Ledecky won in 15:37.34, while her teammate Erica Sullivan took silver.

Her winning time here of 15:37.34 was two seconds down on the Olympic record she set in the heats and nearly 17 seconds off her world record mark from 2018.

However, she notes: “The times might not be my best times but I’m still really happy to have a gold record round my neck right now. My past performances, that puts pressure on myself. I am always striving to be my best and to be better than I’ve ever been. It’s not easy when your times are world records in some events.”

This is a fifth individual Olympic gold for Ledecky (and her sixth overall), the world record holder in the 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle. That medal tally equals Hungary’s Krisztina Egerszegi, and only Michael Phelps has won more solo events in the pool, with 13 golds.

Titmus has previously beaten Ledecky in the 400m freestyle final at the Tokyo Games. Heats for the 800m freestyle take place on Thursday, and it is possible that the two rivals will meet again in the final.