Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle
| Women's 800 metre freestyle at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad | ||||||||||
| Venue | Olympic Aquatics Stadium | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | 11 August 2016 (heats) 12 August 2016 (final) | |||||||||
| Competitors | 30 from 21 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 8:04.79 WR | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
| Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics  | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualification | ||||
| Freestyle | ||||
| 50 m | men | women | ||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| 400 m | men | women | ||
| 800 m | women | |||
| 1500 m | men | |||
| Backstroke | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Breaststroke | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Butterfly | ||||
| 100 m | men | women | ||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| Individual medley | ||||
| 200 m | men | women | ||
| 400 m | men | women | ||
| Freestyle relay | ||||
| 4×100 m | men | women | ||
| 4×200 m | men | women | ||
| Medley relay | ||||
| 4×100 m | men | women | ||
| Marathon | ||||
| 10 km | men | women | ||
The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 11–12 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.[1]
U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky smashed a new world record to defend her Olympic title in this event and to successfully complete a distance freestyle treble at a single edition for the first time, since Debbie Meyer did so in 1968.[2] Dominating the race from the start, Ledecky quickly dropped two seconds under a world-record pace, as she pulled further away from the field to overturn her own existing standard with a gold-medal time in 8:04.79.[3][4] Separated the leader by 11.38 seconds, Great Britain's Jazmin Carlin edged out the Hungarian challenger Boglárka Kapás at the final lap for her second silver of the meet in 8:16.17.[5][6] Meanwhile, Kapás faded down the stretch to earn a bronze in 8:16.37, two tenths of a second short of Carlin's time.[7][8]
London 2012 runner-up Mireia Belmonte slipped off the podium to fourth in a Spanish record of 8:18.55. Outside the 8:20 club, Australia's Jessica Ashwood (8:20.32) and Ledecky's teammate Leah Smith (8:20.95), bronze medalist in the 400 m freestyle, picked up the fifth and sixth spots respectively, finishing 63-hundredths of a second apart from each other. Denmark's Lotte Friis (8:24.50) and Germany's Sarah Köhler (8:27.75) rounded out the championship field.[8]
Ledecky also threw down the existing Olympic record in 8:12.86 to top the field of twenty-seven swimmers in the prelims, slashing 1.14 seconds off the standard set by Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington on a since-banned high-tech bodysuit in Beijing eight years earlier.[9][10]
Records
Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record |  Katie Ledecky (USA) | 8:06.68 | Austin, United States | 17 January 2016 |
| Olympic record |  Rebecca Adlington (GBR) | 8:14.10 | Beijing, China | 16 August 2008 |
The following records were broken during the competition:
| Date | Event | Name | Nationality | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 August | Heat 4 | Katie Ledecky | United States | 8:12.86 | OR |
| 12 August | Final | Katie Ledecky | United States | 8:04.79 | WR |
Results
Heats
Final
| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 4 | Katie Ledecky | United States | 8:04.79 | WR |
 | 3 | Jazmin Carlin | Great Britain | 8:16.17 | |
 | 5 | Boglárka Kapás |  Hungary | 8:16.37 | NR |
| 4 | 8 | Mireia Belmonte |  Spain | 8:18.55 | NR |
| 5 | 7 | Jessica Ashwood |  Australia | 8:20.32 | |
| 6 | 6 | Leah Smith | United States | 8:20.95 | |
| 7 | 2 | Lotte Friis |  Denmark | 8:24.50 | |
| 8 | 1 | Sarah Köhler |  Germany | 8:27.75 |
References
- ↑ "Women's 800m Freestyle". Rio 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
- ↑ Crouse, Karen (12 August 2016). "Katie Ledecky Smashes World Record in the 800-Meter Freestyle". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ↑ Auerbach, Nicole (12 August 2016). "Katie Ledecky shatters world record in 800 free, wins fourth gold in Rio". USA Today. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ↑ "Katie Ledecky breaks 800-free mark, wins 4th gold of Rio Games". ESPN. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ↑ Lovett, Samuel (12 August 2016). "Rio 2016: More swimming success for Britain as Jazmin Carlin wins silver in the 800m freestyle final". The Independent. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ↑ "Jazz Carlin pays tribute to parents after second silver of Rio 2016 Olympics". The Guardian. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ↑ Flynn, Daniel (12 August 2016). "Ledecky smashes 800m record to claim freestyle treble". Reuters. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- 1 2 "Katie Ledecky Etches Her Name In History By Completing Sweep Of The 200-400-800 Freestyles". Swimming World Magazine. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ↑ "Katie Ledecky Swims a Relaxed Olympic Record Time in 800 Freestyle Prelims". Swimming World Magazine. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
- ↑ "Katie Ledecky sets Olympic record in 800-meter freestyle prelims". Chicago Tribune. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
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