Tokyo (AFP)

The American Katie Ledecky, already five times Olympic champion, overcame her disappointments in the 200 and 400 m on Wednesday morning to win the first title in the 1,500 m women, which makes its appearance at the Games.

Archi-favorite, with the ten best lap times in history over this distance, the swimmer did the whole race in the lead to win (15: 37.34) ahead of her compatriot Erica Sullivan (15: 41.41) and the German Sarah Kohler (15: 42.91).

The queen of the Rio 2016 Olympics, who has just lost her first two Olympic finals in quick succession with the 400m on Monday (2nd) then the 200m on Wednesday (5th) raised her fist, moved as rarely, before congratulating Sullivan .

Before flying to Tokyo, she was delighted with the entry of the 1,500 m ladies on the menu of the Olympics, hoping to "make proud" her compatriot Janet Evans, 49, long the queen of long distances without knowing the happiness of 'an Olympic coronation.

"I like the work you have to do to be good in this race," explained the 24-year-old champion.

"It requires very good rhythm management, probably more than the 800, you have to be careful and know how much you can push."

Without deviating from her gargantuan program, she will continue in the evening with the 4x200 m series, of which the Americans are the title holders, then with those of the 800 m Thursday evening, aiming for two new gold medals.

Beaten Monday morning over 400m by young Australian Ariarne Titmus, Ledecky had shown herself to be a philosopher, rejoicing that her 20-year-old rival had pushed her to achieve her "best time in five years" over the distance.

She gave up even more clearly on Wednesday morning, taking only fifth place over 200m (1: 55.21) behind the same Titmus, Hong Kong's Siobhan Bernadette Haughey and Canadian Penny Olaksiak.

© 2021 AFP