Team USA wins gold in the mens 4x100 relay at the 2023 World Championship in a world-leading time of 37.38. Team Italy (37.62) took silver and Team Jamaica (37.76) claims bronze.
29 reasons why katie ledecky is a sporting icon: a reminder
she is the most decorated individual world champion of all time
she is the 2nd most decorated individual champion (behind only phelps) in the history of olympic swimming
she has set 14 individual world records in the olympic pool (2nd most all time behind, you guessed it—phelps). her biggest rivals, summer mcintosh and ariarne titmus, have set 2 each.
her first world record in the 800 free would no longer podium at the 2023 world champs. she still won this year by 4.5 seconds.
she has gone undefeated in the 800 free since london 2012...
...and undefeated in the 1500 free since barcelona 2013.
she won the singular 1500 freestyle at the 2014 pan pacific championships by 26 seconds, which the national team director called the best race he'd ever seen in his 50 years in the sport
she is the only swimmer to win four individual freestyle events (200, 400, 800, 1500 free in 2015) at a single world championships...
...and split a 52.7 100 free (same as olympic champion penny oleksiak) on the way to olympic silver in the 4x100 free relay.
she went a 3:56 400 free when everyone else was going 4:01
she went an 8:04 800 free when everyone else was going 8:16
she is still going 15:2X in the 1500 free when only one other woman in history has broken 15:40.
when she broke the 800 free WR in jan 2016, olympic finalist and worlds medallist leah smith had just turned for her final 50.
you think she only wins by big margins because she swims longer events? the men's 1500 at worlds was won by 0.05 seconds. ledecky won by 17.
what about in 2022, when gregorio paltrinieri routed the field on his way to the (then-)second fastest swim of all-time? he won by 4 seconds. in the women's race, ledecky won by 14.
she had an off meet at worlds in 2017 and won five gold medals.
she was hospitalised at worlds in 2019 and still won gold in the 800 free, in a time that was faster than anyone else in history.
she had an off Olympic meet, adding a combined 25 seconds in the 800 and 1500 free, and still won two individual gold medals.
people expected her to break the short course world record the first time she swam the 1500 scm freestyle. she defied expectations and ended up breaking it by nearly ten seconds.
she swam the third-fastest performance of all time in the short course 800 free...on her way to that world record swim in the 1500. to the feet.
TEN MINUTES LATER, she went a personal best 1:52.3 in the 200 free, becoming the third-fastest american of all time.
you still think she's washed in the sprints? her 200 relay split in tokyo was the fastest out of not just the US team, or the medalling teams, but out of all 32 swimmers in the final.
...and she went even faster in budapest 2022.
as a bonus, she's a national champion in the 400 IM — her fifth best event? that time would've won a world championship medal, and she doesn't even swim the event internationally.
hell, she was the one to break katinka hosszu's all-time record in the 400 yard IM and is still the #2 performer in history
and she's still getting better in her main events. ten years after her first WR, ledecky reset her us open record in the 1650 yard free ... which was the fastest in the country by 42 seconds.
at an age where most female distance swimmers have retired, she won the 2023 world championship in the 1500 free in a time that was two seconds faster than her world record in 2014.
because who else would not be at her best and still win AP Female Athlete (athlete, across all sports) of the Year?
because no one else has ever owned an event as she has in the 800 free. no one else, in anything, has ever had the top 29 times in history.
Usual and obligatory disclaimer here that I am not a psychiatrist or paid mental health professional, and also Anakin Skywalker is not a real person and I'm making it all up :) I cannot speak to anyone else's diagnosis or experiences, and everyone reacts to things like treatment and therapy and medication differently. But. At the same time. I think for a lot of people a diagnosis is a gigantic relief. (Even if the diagnosis itself is not great.) Especially with invisible illnesses - there can be this sense of shame, or that 'you're making it all up' or that 'it's just in your head' (which, well, it IS all in your head, because that's what mental illness IS)...and then to have someone who is a fully trained therapist look you in the eye and say, this is real, it is a real thing that other people experience too, I believe you when you say you are hurting, it has a name and you can use that name and it will help you get things that will help you feel better - like I said, huge relief. So I tried to write that in to Anakin's story as we go on.
Anakin is, in fact, the only person who consistently states that he has BPD. Both Dr. Ti and Dr. Gallia, here, only ever say he MAY have BPD. And I was careful to not have any other characters talk about his diagnosis, rather than about him, Anakin, as a person.
And Anakin, as the person to whom this is happening, is the only person with any authority to state how he does or does not feel, or what diagnosis does or does not work for him. (There's a reason the DSM5 is so long. What with co-morbidities and everything else a lot of times even the professionals are like, uh, maybe? You have some characteristics of this sometimes but not all of them all the time? Shrug emoji?)
And I realize I am very much presenting all these things as...things that can pretty easily be overcome. Like, this fic is probably unrealistic in the sense that Anakin goes from diagnosis to recovery in, like, a minute flat. I do not once even discuss the fact that his plethora of medications might interact badly with one another or come with undesirable side effects, and that's a daily reality for millions of people. Hell, even the fact that he gets therapy and meds as easily and quickly as he does is a fiction.
With all that said. God bless prescription medication :)
Some swimming notes: the race they're talking about is the 2012 summer Olympics men's 4x100 freestyle relay. Adrian is Nathan Adrian, who started first for the U.S. team, and Phelps and Lochte are Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte, who swam anchor. (The U.S. finished second, behind France.) Lane 3 was Russia, who ended up taking bronze, and Magnussen is James Magnussen, who took an early lead for Australia (who ended up in fourth place).
World Swimming Championships, Italy silver in the 4x100 freestyle. Marchand and Titimus break men's and women's world records
FUKUOKA. Italy won the silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle at the Fukuoka World Championships. The blues Alexander Miressi, Manuel Frigo, Lorenzo Zazzeri And Thomas Cecon with a time of 3’10 49 they were preceded by Australia (3’10″16). Bronze went to the United States (3’10″81). The four blues dream of gold for three quarters of the race and snatch the pass for the Paris 2024 Olympics.…
Teen sensation McIntosh, Canadian women's relay team win silvers on the opening day of aquatics worlds (msn.com)
Summer McIntosh got off to the best possible start at the FINA world aquatics championships, with a medal around her neck.
On Saturday, the 15-year-old from Toronto won silver in the women's 400-meter freestyle event at the Duna Arena in Budapest.
McIntosh swam the face in three minutes, 59.39 seconds, finishing second only to Ledecky. With a time of 4:02.08, Smith of the United States won bronze. As a result of her performance, the Canadian joins a select group of four women who have ever swum the event in under four minutes.
McIntosh made her mark on the world stage last summer when she finished fourth in the 400m freestyle at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and she has maintained her high level of performance. In March, she swam the third-fastest time ever in the 400m individual medley (IM) during an invitational trials prep event, breaking her Canadian record.
The native of Toronto, Ont. will also compete in the 200m butterfly and 400m individual medley at the world championships.
Maggie Mac Neil, Taylor Ruck, Penny Oleksiak, and Kayla Sanchez swam to a silver medal in the women's 4x100 m relay on the first day of competition in Budapest, finishing 1.2 seconds behind Australia and 1.6 seconds ahead of the Americans.
For much of the race, Canada appeared to be in third place but a strong anchor leg from six-time Olympic medallist Penny Oleksiak propelled the Canadians to second place down the final stretch.
Canada, continuing to be a global force, won the same medal in the event as they did at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, with the same countries finishing ahead of and behind them on the podium.
On Saturday, Harvey swam well in the women's 200m IM heats, finishing with a time of 2:10.38 and earning a spot in the final on Sunday.
The 22-year-old has won four Pan-American Games medals but has yet to win a medal at an Olympic or world championship. Harvey will be in contention for a medal when she competes at 1:27 p.m. ET on Sunday after finishing fourth in the heats.
The Canadian men's 4x100m relay team, led by Josh Liendo, just missed out on a podium finish. However, after a strong start that kept them in contention, Liendo, Yuri Kisil, Ruslan Gaziev and Javier Acevedo slid back in the final lengths, finishing sixth in 3:11.99.
The Americans won gold with a time of 3:09.34, followed by the Australians in second place with a time of 3:10.86, and Italy in third place with a time of 3:10.95.
Audrey Lamothe competed in her first world championships, finishing 10th in the women's solo technical artistic swimming competition in Budapest. The 17-year-old from Montreal came in third place with an 83.1 score.
Yukiko Inui won gold with a score of 92.8662. Marta Fiedna won the silver medal, while Evangelia Platanioto won the bronze.
At the Duna Arena in Budapest, the Canadian team has a lot to look forward to, with Harvey competing in the 200m (IM) final on Sunday and medals awarded in the men's 100m breaststroke, women's 100m butterfly, and men's 50m butterfly.
The FINA World Aquatics Championships will be broadcast live on CBC Sports from June 18-July 3 on cbcsports.ca.
Team Canada wins gold in the men's 4x100 relay at the World Championships on Saturday. Team USA takes silver and Team Great Britain Northern Ireland, the bronze.