Ryan Lochte wrote himself into the history books on Thursday, while Katie Ledecky won her fourth gold at the world championships to cap a great night for the US.
Lochte’s victory in the 200m individual medley final saw him become the first swimmer to win four consecutive world championships in the event.
“It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Lochte said.
Photo: AFP
He now has 16 gold medals at world championships dating back to 2005.
Australia’s Grant Hackett is the only other swimmer to have won four consecutive world titles in a single event, having achieved the feat in the 1,500m freestyle between 1998 and 2005.
“It would have to be a toss up between this, it’s the coolest thing to make history in any sport, or 2011, when I broke the world record,” Lochte said when asked if it was the best moment of his illustrious career.
Lochte revealed US star Michael Phelps, who was sanctioned from taking part in Kazan, told him to take leadership of their nation’s team via a text message.
The 31-year-old Lochte produced a commanding display to win his final, and both butterfly expert Camille Adams and breaststroker Micah Lawrence said Lochte’s victory had inspired them to finish second in their following races.
Ledecky then anchored the US women’s 4x200m freestyle relay victory.
The US finished the night with two golds and Adams’ silver in the women’s 200m butterfly to move up to second in the overall medals table behind China.
The 18-year-old Ledecky had already won the 200m, 400m and 1,500m freestyle golds in Kazan and still had the 800m heats yesterday morning, with the final scheduled for today.
After Missy Franklin swam a strong first leg in the relay, Ledecky dived in with the US slightly behind Sweden, but she put plenty of clear water between her team’s rivals to win by a clear margin.
Ledecky, who holds the world records for the 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle, has had an outstanding campaign in Kazan and has twice broken her own 1,500m record.
“There’s only one word I can use to describe Katie Ledecky — ‘phenomenal,’” Lochte said. “It seems whenever she sets foot in the water she either wins gold or breaks a world record — she’s a beast. She got Team USA on a roll and we have to carry on that momentum.”
It was also a good night for Asia as Ning Zetao became China’s first 100m freestyle world champion, while Fu Yuanhui won women’s 50m backstroke gold with fellow 19-year-old Liu Xiang earning bronze for China.
Japan’s Natsumi Hoshi won the women’s 200m butterfly gold to add to her 2012 Olympic bronze in the event, while 17-year-old Zhang Yufei of China swam a new world junior record to take bronze.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but