The coronation of American wunderkind Katie Ledecky continued on Friday night as the 19-year-old swimming sensation took home gold and smashed the world record in the women's 800-meter freestyle four years after capturing her first Olympic gold medal in the same event.
Ledecky finished in eight minutes, 4.79 seconds—more than 11 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Jazz Carlin of Great Britain, as the New York Times' David Leonhardt noted:
The 100-meter dash will be run in less time than Katie Ledecky waited for the silver medalist to finish.
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) August 13, 2016
Carlin clocked in at eight minutes, 16.