{"id":267568,"date":"2017-07-23T09:30:03","date_gmt":"2017-07-23T16:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=267568"},"modified":"2021-05-25T18:48:20","modified_gmt":"2021-05-26T01:48:20","slug":"katie-ledecky-lowers-400-free-championship-record-at-world-champs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/katie-ledecky-lowers-400-free-championship-record-at-world-champs\/","title":{"rendered":"Katie Ledecky Lowers 400 Free Championship Record at World Champs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women’s 400 Free FINAL<\/h3>\n

In true Katie Ledecky<\/strong>\u00a0fashion, the American distance ace continued to chop away at records and swim away from the competition in finals of the women’s 400 free. Ledecky, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, lowered her championship record from prelims down to a 3:58.34, just under two seconds off her world record time of 3:56.46.<\/p>\n

Fellow distance queen\u00a0Leah Smith<\/strong> of the USA held off the remaining field, picking up second with a time of 4:01.54. China’s\u00a0Li Bingjie<\/strong> completed the top three qualifiers with a time of 4:03.25.<\/p>\n

The fourth place seed was picked up by Australia’s\u00a0Ariarne Titmus<\/strong>, who equaled her prelims swim of 4:04.26. That time stands as an Australian age group record for 16 year olds.<\/p>\n

The Hungarian duo of\u00a0Boglarka Kapas<\/strong> and\u00a0Ajna Kesely\u00a0<\/strong>finished fifth and sixth with times of 4:04.77 and 4:05.75 respectively.<\/p>\n

China’s\u00a0Zhang Yuhan\u00a0<\/strong>and Russia’s\u00a0Veronica Popova<\/strong> completed the top eight with times of 4:06.03 and 4:07.59.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/p>\n