Fukuoka ¨C Katie Ledecky of the United States eased to her 20th gold medal overall at the World Aquatics Championships, powering to a fifth women¡¯s 1,500 meters freestyle title after Matthew Richards led a British one-two in the men¡¯s 200-meter freestyle on Tuesday.
Seven-times Olympic champion Ledecky went into the race as the firm favorite, going over 13 seconds quicker than Italy¡¯s Simona Quadarella ¡ª the next best ¡ª in the heats, and was under her world-record time after a blistering start to the final.
But Ledecky¡¯s pace dropped slightly after she took a huge lead and the 26-year-old touched the pad in 15 minutes, 26.27 seconds to finish 17.04 seconds faster than Quadarella, who settled for silver while China¡¯s Li Bingjie took bronze.
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