The two swimming superstars, the Canadian Summer McIntosh and the American Katie Ledecky, will compete on Saturday on 800 m freestyle at the swimming pools in Singapore in a particularly hectic duel.
• Read also: World swimming: a third gold medal for Summer McIntosh
The 28 -year -old American Ledecky is the undisputed queen of the distance, having won the gold medal during four world editions and the world. Far from resting on her laurels, she even broke her own world record in May (8 min 4 s 12/100 e).
But the McIntosh prodigy, ten years younger, is determined to delight her crown to her, with the ambition to join Michael Phelps, his idol, as the only swimmer to have won five individual titles in the same world championship.
The 18 -year -old Canadian has already won three gold medals in three races in Singapore and achieved the third best time in history on 800 m freestyle in June.
The other nine best performance of all time belongs to Ledecky, but the current form of McIntosh suggests a possible change of reign in Singapore.
Ledecky launched hostilities on Friday morning during the series, qualifying for the final on Saturday with the best time, 8 minutes 14 seconds 62, while McIntosh finished third in 8 minutes 19 seconds 88.
At the end of its race, McIntosh said that she felt in good shape, despite the fatigue that accumulates, after her victory over 200 m butterfly the night before.
“I felt much better than I thought this morning,” she said after her series. “I recover really well, probably better than ever during a big championship like this,” she said
A duel at the top
LEDECKY proved to be on the international scene by winning gold over 800 m freestyle at the 2012 London Olympic Games, at only 15 years old. It happily dominates long -distance tests for more than a decade.
With his three gold medals at the last Olympic Games, McIntosh arrived in Singapore in great shape, after having broken three world records in a few days during the Canadian selections in June.
The two swimmers have already clashed for the first time in the city-state, with a McIntosh victory over Ledecky for the gold of the 400m freestyle.
The Canadian is still relatively new on the 800 m, but she has passed the series without major difficulty.
“My goal was simply to win my series to make a place in the final tomorrow evening, and do it with as little energy as possible,” she said.
“I’m just trying to pass this step, because I have never really made series out of 800 before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I’m just happy to be done, ”she said relieved.
The Australian Lani Pallister and the Italian Simona Quadarella hope to get on the podium at the end of the final on Saturday at 8:53 p.m. (2:53 p.m. in Paris), but all the eyes will be turned to Ledecky and McIntosh for the gold race.
“Having all these swimmers around me will inevitably push me to achieve a very good time, and I am really impatient to face Katie tomorrow evening,” concluded McIntosh.
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