'Proud' Katie Ledecky sets new world record with gold in Olympics' 1500m freestyle swimming

PARIS, FRANCE: Swimmer Katie Ledecky made Olympic history with gold in the 1500-meter freestyle on Wednesday, July 31, in Paris.

The 27-year-old widely regarded as the greatest female distance swimmer of all time, touched first in 15 minutes and 30.02 seconds, beating the next closest competitor by 10.33 seconds, and set a new Olympic record besting her time of 15:35.35 from Tokyo.

Swimmer Katie Ledecky says she had fun and felt good after winning gold medal

France’s Anastasiya Kirpichnikova claimed the silver (15:40.35), while third place went to Germany’s Isabel Gose (15:41.16).

The only other swimmer to break 16 minutes was Simona Quadarella of Italy (15:44.05), who faded in a hard-fought duel for the bronze.

“I did have fun,” Ledecky said afterward. “I felt really good. I just tried to hold steady the whole time. Hold my stroke, hold my time, each 50 [meters] and to swim a time that I could feel really happy with. I’m really proud of that swim," reported The Guardian.

Katie Ledecky dominates women's 1500-meter freestyle with 8 career gold medals

Katie Ledecky earned her eighth career gold medal in the women's 1500-meter freestyle final at the Paris La Defense Arena on Wednesday at her fourth Olympic Games.

It was her 12th medal overall. In this particular event, Ledecky holds both the world and Olympic records which is 15:30.02 set Wednesday, as well as the world record holder: 15:20.48, set May 16, 2018, at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis as per USA Today.

In her professional career, she has never lost in the 1500 meter, winning five world titles and setting the 20 fastest times ever recorded in the event's history.

Katie Ledecky's 8th Olympic gold moves her level with record holder Jenny Thompson

Katie Ledecky now shares the all-time record for the most women's swimming gold medals with American swimmer Jenny Thompson after winning eight Olympic titles in her career.

Ledecky will have additional opportunities to win gold in the 800-meter freestyle this weekend and the 4x200-meter freestyle relay on Thursday.

With her gold on Wednesday, she tied Natalie Coughlin, Dara Torres, and Thompson for the most Olympic medals ever won by a female swimmer from any nation with her 12 medals of any color.

She was already the record holder for the most medals won by a single woman.

Katie Ledecky didn't intend to set any swimming world record

Katie Ledecky's performance on Wednesday was better than her 400-meter freestyle bronze medal on Monday, which was her first medal for the game.

She told reporters she had expected to swim faster but "can't get mad at a medal."

"Happy to get a medal, happy to get two days of rest and try to be better," she told People on the opening day of Paris Olympics on July 27.

Even though on Wednesday she failed to beat her own world record, she remained adamant about winning again.

Given that no world records were being broken in the Paris Olympics the phenomenon linked with the shallower pool at La Defense Arena, Ledecky had not given much thought to it.

“I’ve heard the rumblings, but at the end of the day we’re here to race,” she told reporters, the Associated Press reported. “We’re all fast swimmers. We make the pool as fast as we want it to be. I’m not really thinking about it.”