Olympic Swimming 2016: Women's 800M Freestyle Medal Winners, Times and Results

The coronation of American wunderkind Katie Ledecky continued on Friday night as the 19-year-old swimming sensation took home gold and smashed the world record in the women's 800-meter freestyle four years after capturing her first Olympic gold medal in the same event. Ledecky finished in eight minutes, 4.79 secondsmore than 11 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Jazz Carlin of Great Britain, as theNew York Times' David Leonhardt noted:Carlin clocked in at 8:16.17 seconds, while Hungary's Boglarka Kapassecured bronze as Ledecky torched the competition and captured her fifth medal in Rio de Janeiro and her fourth gold at this year's games.Here's a rundown of the official results and finishing times from the 800-meter freestyle final:And here's a look at the updated medal count, which continues to feature the United States and China in the top two positions:As if there were any doubt, the 800-meter freestyle was Ledecky's event to lose.Not only was she the defending gold medalist, but she blitzed her fellow swimmers in preliminary heats to the tune of a new Olympic record swim that took all of 8:12.86 seconds.On top of that, Ledecky entered the evening owning the12yes, 12fastest times in the event's history, according to Yahoo Sports' Alex Baker."She is doing things no one in the world has seen before," fellow American swimmer Missy Franklin said, per theLos Angeles Times' Nathan Fenno.To that point, just look at the distance that separated Ledecky from the competition when she touched the final wall, courtesy of USA Today's Nicole Auerbach:CBS Sports' Gary Parrish put Ledecky's win in perspective once the world record was obliterated:ESPN's Dana O'Neil noted Ledecky is now in fine company when it comes to the degree to which she has crushed other swimmers:Considering Ledecky will be just 23 years old when the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo roll around, she should consider investing in a bigger trophy case.Her blossoming brilliance has been a treat to watch throughout the first week in Rio, and she warded off seemingly every challenger with power-packed performances that have left spectators in awe.She captured gold in every individual event in which she entered, and a silver medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay is hardly a blight on a resume that's starting to resemble a rolling, never-ending scroll of parchment.Post-Race Reaction"That felt good the whole way through," Ledecky said of her swim, per SwimSwam on Twitter. "I could feel that that was faster than any swim I ever did.""I've had a lot of fun this week, not only in the pool but with my teammates [and] the memories mean more than the medals to me," she added, per SwimSwam.
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