Katie Ledecky wins gold in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships

Fukuoka, Japan — Katie Ledecky pulled away from her 20th gold medal overall at the World Aquatics Championships, claiming her fifth 1,500m freestyle title after leading Britain’s Matthew Richards 1-2 in the men’s 200m freestyle on Tuesday.

Ledecky, 26, a seven-time U.S. Olympic champion, came into the race as the heavy favorite, running more than 13 seconds faster than Italy’s Simona Quadarella—the second-best—in heats. Ledecky was below her world record after a strong start in the final.

But her pace slowed down a bit after she made a big lead, touching the board in 15 minutes and 26.27 seconds to finish 17.04 seconds faster than Cuadarella, who settled for the silver medal, while China’s Li Pengjie took the bronze.

It was a perfect response for Ledecky, who was ousted and disappointed by Ariarn Titmus’s world record-breaking 400m freestyle event on Sunday.

“I feel good,” Ledecky said. “It hurt a lot, but I’m really happy with the result. I’m having a lot of fun this week.

“It’s just a lot of hard work and really great people around me – my coaches since I’ve been swimming since I was six, and really great teammates.”

Earlier, Richards finished strong and took the gold medal ahead of compatriot Tom Dean in the freestyle event with a time of 1 minute 44.30 seconds.

“I’m pretty tired to be honest. I’m over the moon; it’s been a hell of a race,” said Richards. “I knew going into the race was one of the most stacked 200 freestyle fields for a long time. It was amazing to get a one-two for Britain.

“I could see all these boys coming to the finish line, really happy to have accomplished it and hopefully the first one will be their first.”

Olympic champion Dean finished 0.02 seconds behind to win the silver medal, while South Korean Hwang Sun Wu took the bronze medal, while 2022 world champion David Popovici missed the podium.

Australian triple Olympic gold medalist Kaylee McCune suffered a nightmare after being disqualified from the women’s 200m individual medley, but the 22-year-old made up for the disappointment in the 100m backstroke.

She won the event in 57.53 seconds to beat the United States’ 2022 world champion Regan Smith by 0.25 seconds and Kathryn Berkoff by 0.72 seconds.

McCune didn’t come close to the speed that earned her the world record of 57.45 seconds at the 2021 Australian Olympic Trials, but she changed pace after finding herself behind Smith after her turn to come home in style.

Italy’s Thomas Ciccone was unable to add another gold to his collection after winning the men’s 50m butterfly title on Monday, as American Ryan Murphy snatched the 100m backstroke crown to lift the Marin Messe Fukuoka Hall of Fame.

Murphy ran 52.22, 0.05 seconds behind Ciccone. Hunter Armstrong rounded off a good day for the United States by taking home the bronze medal.

World record holder Lilly King faces a tough challenge in the women’s 100m breaststroke final that wraps up competition on day three, with America’s second overall after the semi-final dominated by 26-year-old Ruta Melotite.

Lithuanian Melotite, who won gold at the London Olympics 11 years ago, is seeking her first world title in the event since her 2013 success in Barcelona and went faster through the heats as she smashed the 1:05 mark for the first time in a decade.