{"id":324751,"date":"2018-08-09T02:45:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-09T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=324751"},"modified":"2018-08-09T11:43:50","modified_gmt":"2018-08-09T18:43:50","slug":"katie-ledecky-starts-off-pan-pacs-with-800-free-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/katie-ledecky-starts-off-pan-pacs-with-800-free-gold\/","title":{"rendered":"Katie Ledecky Starts Off Pan Pacs With 800 Free Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katie Ledecky\u00a0<\/strong>was out fast in her first final at the 2018 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Tokyo. Under world record pace. She was hanging on to that 8:04 pace by a thread until about the 600 mark when she slowly fell off that pace.<\/p>\n

Ledecky ended up well off her world record with an 8:09.13 for a new meet record. That old record was the 8:11.35 she set in Australia in 2014.<\/p>\n

Ledecky was off her number one time this year from her 8:07.27 from the Indianapolis Pro Swim Series, but it was enough for her to win her second straight Pan Pac title.<\/p>\n

Australia’s\u00a0Ariarne Titmus\u00a0<\/strong>finished in the silver medal with a 8:17.07, just holding off American\u00a0Leah Smith\u00a0<\/strong>(8:17.21). Titmus and Smith are now third and fourth in the world rankings after Italy’s\u00a0Simona Quadarella\u00a0<\/strong>(8:16.45). Titmus’s time is also a new Australian record, lowering\u00a0Jessica Ashwood’s\u00a0<\/strong>8:18.14 from 2016 Santa Clara Pro Swim Series.<\/p>\n

The rest of the field was way back as Australia’s\u00a0Kiah Melverton\u00a0<\/strong>(8:25.64), Japan’s\u00a0Waka Kobori\u00a0<\/strong>(8:31.89), Canada’s\u00a0Mackenzie Padington\u00a0<\/strong>(8:34.49), Japan’s\u00a0Yukimi Moriyama\u00a0<\/strong>(8:41.44) and China’s\u00a0Zhang Ke\u00a0<\/strong>(8:44.17) also competed in tonight’s “A-Final.”<\/p>\n

Notably from this morning, American\u00a0Erica Sullivan\u00a0<\/strong>posted her best time with an 8:26.27. Americans\u00a0Haley Anderson\u00a0<\/strong>(8:27.13) and\u00a0Ashley Wall\u00a0<\/strong>(8:29.36) also posted times in the top eight.<\/p>\n

Australia’s\u00a0Madeline Gough\u00a0<\/strong>(8:27.28) placed seventh from her swim this morning.<\/p>\n

World Rankings:<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Katie Ledecky<\/strong>, USA, 8:07.27<\/li>\n
  2. Simona Quadarella<\/strong>, ITA, 8:16.45<\/li>\n
  3. Ariarne Titmus<\/strong>, AUS, 8:17.07<\/li>\n
  4. Leah Smith<\/strong>, USA, 8:17.21<\/li>\n
  5. Wang Jianjiahe<\/strong>, CHN, 8:18.09<\/li>\n
  6. Sarah Kohler<\/strong>, GER, 8:20.53<\/li>\n
  7. Ajna Kesely<\/strong>, HUN, 8:22.01<\/li>\n
  8. Haley Anderson<\/strong>, USA, 8:24.13<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \"800-free-women\"

    Photo Courtesy:<\/p><\/div>\n