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Olympic gold winner Katie Ledecky broke her 800m freestyle record in the ongoing Santa Clara meet while all-time great Michael Phelps, continuing his comeback, came third in the 200m individual medley.
Ledecky, a gold medal winner at the 2012 London Olympics, had clocked 8:13.86 last year in the world championship event in Barcelona. She broke the record yesterday when she won the race to finish with a new record of 8:11:00.
Not only did the 17-year-old American break her 800m record, she also eclipsed her 1500m record a day before as she bettered the previous smallest time, which she had created at Barcelona as well, by 2.3 seconds to finish at 15:34.23.
Meanwhile Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with 18 gold medals, continued his comeback out of retirement by taking part in the ongoing meet and finishing third in the 200m individual medley.
Phelps finished with a time of 1:59:76 while Conor Dwyer won the event with 1:59.49. Chase Kalisz came second with a timing of 1:59.53.
Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman praised the 18-time Olympic winner’s performance, which came about despite the fact that he had not trained for quite a long time.
"It's a pretty credible swim. He hasn't done much training, and to be under 2 minutes is very good," said Bowman.
"It lets us know exactly what we need to work on.He needs to have endurance. He's only going to get better," he added.
Conor Dwyer, also an Olympic gold medallist who won the 200m individual medley yesterday, praised Phelps and rated him as the best in the business.
"I wanted to really nail the breaststroke," Dwyer said.
"When I saw I was even with him after that, I felt I had a chance. Michael is the greatest Olympic swimmer of all time and has earned the right to be world-renowned. He's helped elevate the sport. I'm just trying to have fun," he added.
Phelps’ last major swimming appearance came at the London Olympics in 2012 where he bid goodbye to the sport by winning four golds and two silvers.
