NY Times · Jul 31, 2021
For Katie Ledecky, the Longer the Race the Better
Entering the Tokyo Games, Katie Ledecky had never lost an individual race at the Olympics, swimming everything from the 200-meter to the 800-meter freestyle. But a new generation of swimmers is catching up with her, and even overtaking her, especially in the shorter races.
In the 200 free, Ledecky placed fifth. Ariarne Titmus of Australia won the gold, beating Ledecky’s time by 1.71 seconds. And in the 400-meter freestyle, Ledecky took the silver, finishing 67 hundredths of a second behind Titmus.
Ledecky’s strength has always been in the distance races: the 800 and the 1,500, which is a new Olympic event for women this year. Ledecky claimed gold in both of those races.