Sarah Köhler stepped out of the pool of the Tokyo Aquatics Center with a great disappointment.

The bronze medal winner swam in the race over 1500 meters, with the hope of another medal, over 800 meters in 8: 24.56 minutes in seventh place.

In the run-up, Köhler was more than seven seconds faster, an achievement that would have been enough to win another bronze medal on Saturday.

Christoph Becker

Sports editor.

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While Sarah Köhler initially sat blankly at the edge of the pool and then spoke of a “medal given away”, the sport-historical dimension of Katie Ledecky's superior victory came into focus.

She swam in 8: 12.57 minutes to London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro 2016 for the third gold medal over this distance.

So far, only Australian Dawn Fraser (100 meters freestyle, 1956-1964) and Hungarian Krisztina Egeszegi (200 meters back, 1988-1996) have achieved this.

Gold in six individual races

In addition, Ledecky is now the only woman to have won Olympic gold in six individual races. After her win, 24-year-old Ledecky said she plans to continue her career at least until the Paris Games and possibly Los Angeles in 2028. “I'm still young, I love training. I'll keep going until the time comes. "

Ledecky set a successful conclusion in the duel with the Australian Ariarne Titmus, who she was able to distance more than 800 meters from the start. Titmus, who had beaten Ledecky over 400 meters and 200 meters freestyle, was now almost two and a half seconds behind and was only able to reduce the gap to 1.26 seconds in the last 100 meters. Nevertheless, she finished in 8: 13.83 minutes with a personal best and an oceanic continental record. Third was the Italian Simona Quadarella (8: 18.35 minutes).

"When I started swimming, when I was six, I never dreamed that I would make it to the Olympics," said Ledecky. “To have had the opportunity to play three games, win medals, hear the national anthem is great. It's a pleasure to make friends, to be part of great teams, with great teammates. I enjoy the moment. I'll try to savor it a bit and enjoy it with family and friends and then go back to work later. "

“I'm speechless,” said Sarah Köhler after the race on ARD.

“Somehow I didn't want it today.

Others took their chance, I missed it.

That is quite a disappointment for me. ”The swim-in was not as smooth as before her preliminary run, in which she had swum the German record.

She already noticed that she “didn't really have pressure on her hand”.

"But that doesn't necessarily mean anything."

"Didn't come along from the start"

But the plan with which she started the race - national coach Bernd Berkhahn had said that she “shouldn't give away a hundredth of a second at any point” - was already gone on the first of 16 lanes. “I didn't come with you from the start, I was hoping they'll break in and I can still get there. That wasn't the case. ”Simona Quadarella saw her up to the 200 meter mark -“ not after that ”.