adminRIO DE JANEIRO. — Michael Phelps picked up his 19th gold medal on a second night of world records in the Olympic pool, with Katie Ledecky cruising to women’s 400 metres freestyle victory and Britain’s Adam Peaty running away with the men’s 100 breaststroke.
Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom extended Saturday’s record spree in winning the 100m butterfly, and Peaty and Ledecky followed suit in the next two finals before the US men’s team, with Phelps swimming second, took the 4×100 freestyle relay.
Six swimming world records have now fallen in two days of competition, and the United States moved level with Australia on two gold medals each.
Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, now has 19 golds, two silvers and two bronzes. For his relay team mates Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Held, it was their first Olympic medal.
London Olympics 100 freestyle champion Nathan Adrian swam the final leg for the Americans, touching first ahead of France and Australia.
“On the block I thought my heart was going to explode, I was so hyped, so excited,” said Phelps, competing in his fifth Olympics. Ledecky, the rising US swimming sensation, shaved 1.91 seconds off her own world record on the way to the 400m gold, the first stage of a rare treble she hopes to complete along with the 200m and 800m. “It’s pure happiness,” the 19-year-old told reporters.
“I wanted the first 200 to hurt as little as possible and I really felt like I could build into it and really explode that last 50,” she added after leading the race from start to finish. Britain’s Peaty set his second world record in consecutive days, and seemed surprised by the margin of his victory — 1.56 seconds — over defending champion Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa. — Reuters.
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