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Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metre freestyle

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Women's 800 metre freestyle
at the Games of the XXXI Olympiad
VenueOlympic Aquatics Stadium
Dates11 August 2016 (heats)
12 August 2016 (final)
Competitors30 from 21 nations
Winning time8:04.79 WR
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Katie Ledecky  United States
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Jazmin Carlin  Great Britain
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Boglárka Kapás  Hungary
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The women's 800 metre freestyle event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 11 and 12 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.[1]

Summary

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U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky set 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 from 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 overturned the existing Olympic record in 8:12.86 to top the field of twenty-seven swimmers in the prelims, taking 1.24 seconds off the standard set by Great Britain's Rebecca Adlington in a since-banned high-tech bodysuit in Beijing eight years earlier.[9][10]

Records

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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 [11]
Olympic record  Rebecca Adlington (GBR) 8:14.10 Beijing, China 16 August 2008 [12][13]

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

Competition format

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The competition consisted of two rounds: heats and a final. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the heats advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.[1]

Results

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Heats

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Rank Heat Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1 4 4 Katie Ledecky  United States 8:12.86 Q, OR
2 4 6 Boglárka Kapás  Hungary 8:19.43 Q, NR
3 4 5 Jazmin Carlin  Great Britain 8:19.67 Q
4 4 3 Leah Smith  United States 8:21.43 Q
5 3 3 Lotte Friis  Denmark 8:22.54 Q
6 3 5 Jessica Ashwood  Australia 8:22.57 Q
7 4 2 Sarah Köhler  Germany 8:24.65 Q
8 2 4 Mireia Belmonte  Spain 8:25.55 Q
9 3 4 Lauren Boyle  New Zealand 8:25.84
10 3 6 Brittany MacLean  Canada 8:26.43
11 4 8 Hou Yawen  China 8:30.59
12 2 2 Andreina Pinto  Venezuela 8:30.92
13 4 1 Tjaša Oder  Slovenia 8:33.14
14 1 5 Éva Risztov  Hungary 8:33.36
15 2 6 Camilla Hattersley  Great Britain 8:33.65
16 2 7 Emma Robinson  New Zealand 8:33.73
17 2 3 Kristel Köbrich  Chile 8:34.34
18 3 2 Zhang Yuhan  China 8:35.32
19 3 1 María Vilas  Spain 8:36.43
20 3 8 Tamsin Cook  Australia 8:36.62
21 1 2 Julia Hassler  Liechtenstein 8:38.19
22 1 4 Valerie Gruest  Guatemala 8:39.80 NR
23 2 8 Joanna Evans  Bahamas 8:42.93
24 1 6 Tamila Holub  Portugal 8:45.36
25 2 5 Leonie Beck  Germany 8:47.47
26 1 3 Arina Openysheva  Russia 8:48.89
27 1 7 Talita Te Flan  Ivory Coast 9:07.21 NR
3 7 Anja Klinar  Slovenia DNS
2 1 Martina De Memme  Italy DNS
4 7 Sharon van Rouwendaal  Netherlands DNS

Final

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Rank Lane Name Nationality Time Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) 4 Katie Ledecky  United States 8:04.79 WR
2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3 Jazmin Carlin  Great Britain 8:16.17
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) 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

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  1. ^ a b "Women's 800m Freestyle". Rio 2016. Archived from the original on 26 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2016.
  2. ^ Crouse, Karen (12 August 2016). "Katie Ledecky Smashes World Record in the 800-Meter Freestyle". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  3. ^ Auerbach, Nicole (12 August 2016). "Katie Ledecky shatters world record in 800 free, wins fourth gold in Rio". USA Today. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  4. ^ "Katie Ledecky breaks 800-free mark, wins 4th gold of Rio Games". ESPN. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  5. ^ Lovett, Samuel (12 August 2016). "Rio 2016: More swimming success for Britain as Jazmin Carlin wins silver in the 800m freestyle final". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-05-26. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  6. ^ "Jazz Carlin pays tribute to parents after second silver of Rio 2016 Olympics". The Guardian. 12 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  7. ^ Flynn, Daniel (12 August 2016). "Ledecky smashes 800m record to claim freestyle treble". Reuters. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  8. ^ a b "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.
  9. ^ "Katie Ledecky Swims a Relaxed Olympic Record Time in 800 Freestyle Prelims". Swimming World Magazine. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  10. ^ "Katie Ledecky sets Olympic record in 800-meter freestyle prelims". Chicago Tribune. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2016.
  11. ^ Flaherty, Bryan (17 January 2016). "Katie Ledecky does it again, breaks world record in 800 free". The Washington Post. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
  12. ^ Lohn, John (15 August 2008). "We Loved You While You Lasted Janet, Rebecca Adlington Erases Longest Standing World Record With Evans' Mark in 800 Free". Swimming World Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2013.
  13. ^ "Adlington storms to second gold". BBC Sport. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 19 May 2013.