15-Year-Old Ledecky Spoiled Britain’s Party

Doug Mills/The New York TimesKatie Ledecky after winning the 800-meter freestyle gold.

LONDON − Watching the Olympic women’s 800-meter freestyle final, Bob Bowman had a feeling of déjà vu. In the water, a 15-year-old from Maryland was turning an Olympic debut into a coming-out party.
In 2000, Bowman’s pupil, Michael Phelps, placed fifth in the 200-meter butterfly at the Sydney Games. On Friday night at the London Aquatics Centre, Katie Ledecky outdid Phelps by four spots, pulling out a victory in the 800-meter freestyle that sent all of Britain into mourning.
Ledecky, a rising sophomore in high school, led from the start and soundly defeated the defending Olympic champion, the Briton Rebecca Adlington, who was second for most of the race before fading to third. Ledecky was ahead of Adlington’s world-record pace until the final 50. She was timed in 8 minutes 14.63 seconds, missing Adlington’s world mark by half a second but breaking Janet Evans’s 23-year-old American record.