The American did not need to push too hard to achieve the best mark in the 16 pools with 8:17.51
After his record in 200, Hungarian Kristof Milak was the fastest in the hectometer preliminaries with 50.68
The great Katie Ledeckythe American swimmer who has the best record in world championships, with 18 golds and three silvers, He took a step towards a new triumph this Thursday by winning the 800 m series of the Budapest World Championships with a discreet time of 8:17.51but enough to lead Australian Lani Pallister by 7.15.
Ledecky holds the world record for this long-distance event since the Rio 2016 Games in 8:04.79. and if he wins the final on Friday, he will add his third gold in these World Championships, after the 1,500 and 4×200 free.
The Spanish Ángela Martínez, with 8:45.12, did not make the cut.
Ledecky was not the only one who showed off in the morning series. Two days after setting a stratospheric world record in the 200 butterfly (1:50.34), Hungarian Kristof Milak was the fastest in the hm preliminaries with 50.68 and a 0.29 advantage over Canadian Joshua Liendo.
The world record holder and Olympic champion of the event, the American Caeleb Dressel, left Budapest on Tuesday for medical reasons that were not clarified, so the podium remains open and awaits another great performance by Milak.
The Spanish Alberto Lozano, thirtieth in the general calculation (52.98), did not reach the semifinals.
In the women’s 200m backstroke, the best time was in charge of the American Phoebe Bacon, 2:07.89ahead of the 2.08.53 of the Chinese Xuwei Peng.
The Australian Kaylee McKeown, current Olympic champion of the distance, marked the fifth time, 2:09.26.
Among the semifinalists, the Colombian Jimena Leguizamón slipped in with the sixteenth time, with 2:16.38. The 17-year-old swimmer from Bogotá is competing in her first absolute World Cup after accumulating victories in the youth categories.
After the dispute of the 10 men’s series of 50 m freestyle, the Brazilian Bruno Fratus was the best standing, with a time of 21.71, better only one hundredth than that of the Canadian Liendo.
Fratus, runner-up in the world in the two previous editions and bronze in Tokyo 2020, at 32 years old retains the speed that allows him to aspire to be the fastest in the world. And he wants to take advantage of Dressel’s absence to achieve his first world gold.
In the women’s 50 butterfly, the Chinese Yufei Zhang led the series with 25.39, ahead of the world record holder since 2014, the Swedish Sarah Sjostrom, only 0.04.
The eight men’s 4x200m freestyle teams that advanced to the final were, in order of time, the United States (7:04.39), Brazil (7:06.98), Hungary (7:07.46), South Korea, China, Great Britain , France and Australia.