RIO DE JANEIRO — Katie Ledecky was the fastest swimmer in the pool, and she brought her American teammates along for the ride.
The 19-year-old turned in another overpowering performance to carry the United States to victory in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay, capturing her third gold and fourth medal overall at the Rio Olympics.
The U.S. trailed through the first three legs of the race, as Sweden, China and then Australia swapped the top spot.
Then, it was Ledecky’s turn on the anchor leg.
She blew everyone away.
Ledecky turned in a split of 1 minute, 53.74 seconds, which was nearly 2.5 seconds faster than her next-fastest teammate, Allison Schmitt in 1:56.21.
Only one other swimmer in the race, Australia’s Emma McKeon, got within a second of Ledecky’s four-lap time.
“I was prepared for any circumstance, whether we were ahead of behind,” Ledecky said.
The U.S. finished in 7 minutes, 43.03 seconds, with Ledecky a full body length ahead of Tamsin Cook, who touched in 7:44.87 to give Australia the silver. Canada took the bronze in 7:45.39.
And get this: Ledecky’s relay time was only one-hundredth of a second slower than her winning time in the 200 free the previous night.
“It’s good consistency, I guess,” she said.
The teenager from suburban Washington D.C. has one more race to go, and it might be the biggest lock of all. She’s the world-record holder and defending Olympic champion in the 800 free.
On the fifth night of swimming at the Olympic Aquatic Center, 18-year-old Kyle Chalmers dethroned defending champion and Bremerton native Nathan Adrian in the final of the 100 freestyle, the first Australian to be crowned king of speed in 48 years. Kazakhstan claimed its first-ever swimming medal — a gold one, at that — when Dmitriy Balandin pulled off a stunning upset in the 200 breaststroke.
Also, Spain’s Mireia Belmonte Garcia finally won her first gold medal after two silvers and a bronze, touching first in the 200 butterfly.
Michael Phelps wasn’t up for any hardware. But he did cruise through the semifinals of the 200 individual medley with the fastest time, besting countryman Ryan Lochte.
In the furious down-and-back sprint that is the 100 free, Chalmers rallied on the return lap to win with a time of 47.58. Pieter Timmers of Belgium claimed the silver in 47.80, while Adrian made it onto the medal podium — with a bronze this time — in 47.85.
“It would be great to have gold,” said Adrian, who barely advanced out of the preliminaries but nearly pulled off the first back-to-back titles in the 100 since Pieter van den Hoogenband in 2000 and 2004. “But in this day and age, the 100 freestyle is maybe the most fickle event out there. I am so proud to be a medalist for two Olympiads.”
In the 200 breaststroke, Balandin touched in 2:07.46, while Josh Prenot of the United States rallied to claim silver in 2:07.53. Russia’s Anton Chupkov landed the bronze in 2:07.70.
