2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju. After winning a total of 14 gold medals at three world championships – Barcelona 2013, Kazan 2015 and Budapest 2017 – and four at the Rio 2016 Olympics, earning her the nickname “the female Phelps,” American Katie Rudecky had an uncharacteristically slow start in Gwangju. After winning a silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle on her first day of competition, Ludecky finished first overall in the 1500-meter freestyle preliminaries the next day, then withdrew from the final, and then from the 200-meter freestyle preliminaries on the third day. As the questions surrounding Rudecky grew, the U.S. team explained that “she had been feeling under the weather with cold symptoms since shortly after she arrived in Gwangju.”
It wasn’t until a day before the end of the competition that Rudecky regained her form. In the 800-meter freestyle final on the seventh day of the Games, Rudeky was the first swimmer to touch the touchpad and win gold. “I felt (well enough) to finish the race,” he beamed afterward.
Four years later. On July 29, Rudecki won gold in the women’s 800m freestyle at the Fukuoka 2023 World Championships. For a swimmer who was used to being on the podium, this one gold medal was special. She is the first athlete to win six consecutive world championships in the women’s 800 freestyle. Only Sara Sjöström (30-Sweden-5) in the women’s 50m butterfly is the only other athlete to have won more than five consecutive events. Setting a streak requires not only skill, but also patience and luck. Phelps collected six gold medals in the men’s 200-meter butterfly during his seven World Championships between 2001 and 2011. However, he did not compete in the 200-meter butterfly at the 2005 Games in Canada, which prevented him from adding to his tally.
Another. With his 800-meter freestyle gold, Rudecki surpassed Phelps (15) to become the most decorated individual athlete of all time with 16 gold medals at a World Championships. If you include team events, Phelps, with 26 career gold medals, still leads Ludecky with 21. But given that Ludecky, born in 1997, is still in his “mid-20s,” it’s only a matter of time before he surpasses Phelps. He may not have the instantaneous power he once had in the shorter distances, but his class in the middle and longer distances is unrivaled. The 800-meter freestyle, in particular, has never been won by a different swimmer at a World Championships or Olympic Games since London 2012.
The good news for Ludecky is that the World Championships, which used to be held every two years, will be held every year from now until 2025. In the aftermath of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the World Championships were postponed for two years after Gwangju in 2019, with Fukuoka scheduled for 2021. In the meantime, there was a consensus that the World Championships could not be held every four years, so they were held as a special event in June 2022 in Budapest (Hungary), a city in Europe where there was less fear of COVID-19. The previously postponed Fukuoka event was held this year, and the Doha, Qatar event, which was originally scheduled for 2023, was moved up a year to February 2024 to accommodate the hot summer in Qatar. The World Championships will then return to a biennial format after the originally scheduled Singapore event in 2025.
With a good run of big events each year, there is a good chance that Rudecki will break the gold medal record not only at the World Championships but also at next year’s Olympic Games in Paris. In her three Olympic Games, Ludecky has won seven gold medals. She is one gold medal shy of becoming the most decorated Olympic women’s swimmer and two shy of becoming the most decorated Olympic women’s athlete beyond swimming. Jenny Thompson (50-USA) has eight gold medals and Larissa Latanina (89) has nine for the most by a woman in Olympic swimming.
After the 800-meter freestyle in Fukuoka, Rudecki said, “I never imagined I would be here. I’m grateful to all the athletes I’ve competed against. 스포츠토토 I had great competitors and I didn’t get tired.” “I will continue to work hard to win more medals for my country,” he added.