GOLD COAST, Australia — Katie Ledecky set her second world record in as many nights for her fifth gold medal at the Pan Pacific championships, while Michael Phelps missed another individual gold when he was touched out by Kosuke Hagino of Japan in the 200 medley.
The 17-year-old from Bethesda, Maryland, sliced almost six seconds off her own world mark by winning the 1,500-meter freestyle in 15 minutes, 28.36 seconds on Sunday, less than 24 hours after breaking her own record in the 400 freestyle.
“I knew it was my last race of the meet, and last race of the season,” Ledecky said. “I’ve had a really good season. I wanted to finish on a good note. I didn’t want to walk away from the meet with a ’That was OK’ feeling. I dug in deep for the last 50. Put it all in there, the last 25.”
Hagino touched two-hundredths of a second in front of 18-time Olympic gold medalist Phelps, winning the 200 IM in 1:56.02. Phelps retired after the London Olympics but returned to competitive swimming in April. In the first international meet since his comeback, Phelps won the 100 butterfly and a 4x200 relay gold medal and says he’s on track for the next world championships.
Brazil’s Bruno Fratus won the 50 freestyle in 21.44 seconds, relegating 33-year-old Anthony Irvin to second and his U.S. teammate Nathan Adrian to third place. Australian sisters Cate and Bronte Campbell repeated their 1-2 finish in the 100 by taking gold and silver again in the 50.
The Japanese men completed two doubles on Sunday, with Hagino adding the 200 to his earlier victory in the 400 IM and Yasuhiro Koseki winning the 200 breaststroke in 2:08.57 to go with his earlier win in the 100.
“I’m so happy, that I could prove Japanese breaststroke is so strong,” Koseki said.
Canada’s Ryan Cochrane won the 800 in 7:45.39 from Mack Horton of Australia and Connor Jaeger of the United States.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.