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Katie Ledecky smashed 800M freestyle world record: Twitter reacts

By Brad Weiss

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 12: Katie Ledecky of United States celebrates winning the women's 800m Freestyle on Day 7 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on August 12, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 12: Katie Ledecky of United States celebrates winning the women's 800m Freestyle on Day 7 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on August 12, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images) /
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Katie Ledecky picked up her fourth Olympic gold medal on Friday, smashing the world record in the 800m freestyle.

For Katie Ledecky, this has been an incredible 2016 Olympics. She came into the Games as a huge name in the sport, but when all was said and done, she left as the face of American swimming. Swimming under the shadow of Michael Phelps, who could be enjoying his last Olympics, Ledecky has emerged as the star of Rio.

On Friday, Ledecky swam in her final race of the 2016 Games, as she headed to the pool for the 800m freestyle. The event is the signature race for Ledecky, who has owned the 800m freestyle throughout her swimming career. What she did on Friday was nothing short of amazing, and gave sports fans memories of Secretariat at the Belmont.

Ledecky burst onto the scene during the 2012 London Olympics, when she stunned everybody by winning gold in the 800m freestyle. In fact, her time of 8:14.63 was so good that it was the second-fastest time ever in the event. Only Rebecca Adlington’s world record of 8:14.10 was better. She also set the American record that night.

Well, Adlington’s record is long gone, as Ledecky’s time of 8:04.79 absolutely smashed that mark on Friday. To be able to beat a record by almost ten seconds is a stunning feat, and will be the defining moment of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Only 19-years old, Ledecky has an unbelievable future in the sport. As Phelps’ career heads into the twilight, Ledecky has the ultimate opportunity to be the dominant figure in American swimming for the next decade. In an Olympics that saw fellow American Missy Franklin go missing, Ledecky has taken centerstage and has not looked back.

For a 19-year old to be able to set world records in two events at only her second Olympics is going to go down as one of the best feats by a teenager in Olympic history. Buckle up world, because young Ledecky is just getting started.

Here is Twitter going crazy over swimming’s newest superstar.

Such an incredible performance from Ledecky that will go down as one of the most impressive and dominant feats in any sport, of all-time.

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