Katie Ledecky won the 800m freestyle for the third Olympic games in a row by overcoming her arch rival Ariarne Titmus.
The American was the favourite heading into the event, despite the Aussie getting the better of her in their previous two meetings.
But the 24-year-old, who is already competing in her third Olympics, rose to the occasion once again and prevented Titmus, 20, from winning her third Gold Medal in Tokyo.
The swimmer became the first person to win the 800m freestyle at three consecutive Olympics and won today’s race in a time of 8 minutes 12.57 seconds.
The win marked Ledecky’s second gold medal of the 2020 Games, which took her tally to seven Olympic medals overall.
Her campaign in Tokyo has now come to an end and the decorated swimmer is pleased to have finished her Games in the best way possible.
“I really just wanted to end on a really good note,” she said post-race.
“I just knew it would just linger with me if I ended on a bad note, so I just tried to use that as motivation to finish on the best stone possible.”
She also praised her fiercest rival Titmus, who defeated her in Monday’s 400m freestyle final.
Ledecky gushed: “I’m really, really thrilled to have that kind of competition.
“It’s something that fuels me, and I know it fuels her as well. And I hope that I can keep up and stay competitive here moving forward.”
She has already got one eye on competing in 2024 Games in Paris, and teased appearing at a home Olympics, with Los Angeles set to host the event in 2028.
“I’m definitely going through Paris,” Ledecky said. “And maybe beyond, as well. We’ll see.”
Katie’s compatriot Caeleb Dressel broke the world record as he stormed to his third Gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics in the 100m Butterfly.
The 24-year-old will also be the favourite to take the Gold in the 50m freestyle, which takes place tomorrow.
