Katie Ledecky remains unbeatable in the 1,500 freestyle taking the title again

Katie Ledecky of the United States competes in the women’s 1500m freestyle final at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, yesterday

Katie Ledecky has ceded a tiny bit of ground in other events, but she’s still unbeatable in the 1,500-meter freestyle.

She won it again yesterday in the swimming world championships in Singapore, finishing in 15 minutes, 26.44 seconds. Simona Quadarella of Italy took silver in 15:31.79 – a European record – with bronze for Lani Pallister of Australia in 15:41.18 in a very quick-paced race.

“I was just trying to get out fast, but comfortable enough that I could go from there,” Ledecky said. “I’m happy with the time and happy with the swim.”

“I love this race,” she added. “It was the race I broke my first world record in 2013. Lots of great races over the years.”

Ledecky was ahead of her world-record pace through 1,250 meters, pushed early by Pallister. It was Ledecky’s second medal in these games after taking bronze in the 400 free behind Canadian Summer McIntosh.

The numbers speak to Ledecky’s dominance, the most decorated female swimmer in history who has been on top for more than a decade.

With yesterday’s swim she now owns 25 the top 26 times in history in the 1,500. Her time  was the fifth fastest, not far off her world record of 15:20.48 set in 2018.

It was her 22nd gold medal in a world championships and her 28th overall. Add to that nine Olympic gold medals and 14 overall. If you’re not counting, that’s 42 Olympic and world medals – 31 gold.

Watching from the stands was new International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry. She was joined by former president Thomas Bach. Coventry was an Olympic gold-medal winner for Zimbabwe in 2004 and 2008 in the 200-meter backstroke.

The Americans had the top qualifying times going into four finals and won one gold and three silver medals with very close finishes in all three.

The United States team have been battling what officials called “acute gastroenteritis” picked up at a training camp in Thailand before arriving in Singapore.

American head coach Greg Meehan said much of team had turned the corner.

“We’re taking it a day at a time,” he said in an interview with American network NBC. “Obviously, this is not how we thought the first few days of this competition would go. But I’m really proud of our team, our medical staff working overtime. You don’t want your medical staff working overtime.”

“If you were in our team area you would never know that the overall majority of the team has gone through something over the last few days,” Meehan added, saying the team “vibe” was good.

McIntosh, who won two gold medals the first two days, did not race yesterday, Day 3 of the competition.

Kaylee McKeown of Australia took the women’s 100-meter backstroke, closing over the last 50 to beat American Regan Smith. McKeown finished in 57.16 – just .03 off the world record held by Smith. Smith finished in 57.35 with bronze for American Katharine Berkoff in 58.15. STEPHEN WADE, SINGAPORE, MDT/AP