Swimming: Ledecky breaks her own 800m free world record

Katie Ledecky sliced 2.86sec off her 800m freestyle world record on Sunday, clocking 8min 11.00sec at a meet in Texas for her second world record in four days

Los Angeles: Katie Ledecky sliced 2.86sec off her 800m freestyle world record on Sunday, clocking 8min 11.00sec at a meet in Texas for her second world record in four days.


Katie Ledecky 

The 17-year-old American improved on her own previous 800m free world record of 8:13.86 set at the World Championships in Barcelona in August of last year.

On Thursday night, Ledecky had shattered her previous record in the 1,500m free with a time of 15:34.23, improving on the mark of 15:36.53 she had set in Barcelona.

Ledecky is the Olympic champion in the 800m free. The women's 1,500m free isn't contested in the Olympics, although it is a World Championships event for both men and women.

Ledecky is in strong form with the US Championships in Irvine, California, looming in August.

Those championships are a selection meeting for the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia later that month, as well as the 2015 World Championships in Russia.

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