Lauren Boyle of New Zealand took down her own Oceanic record of 15:44.71 in the women’s 1500m freestyle final in order to finish second to American Katie Ledecky in 15:40.14.
That performance for Boyle makes her the third fastest 1500m freestyle performer ever behind only Ledecky and Denmark’s Lotte Friis.
Taking over four seconds off her personal best, Boyle managed to beat both Friis and third place finisher Boglarka Kapas from Hungary. Friis was with Boyle for the majority of the race, but couldn’t hold on towards the end as Boyle surged to a new national and Oceanic record.
Boyle took out the first 400-meters in 4:09.91, turning third behind Ledecky and Friis. By the 800-meter mark Boyle had moved up to second where she stayed for the remainder of the race.
Turning in 8:20.62, Boyle kept things moving towards the 1300m wall where she turned in 13:35.12. Charging during the last 200, Boyle split a 2:05.02 in order to touch in for her new record.
The swim for Boyle marks her best showing ever at a World Championships. In 2013, Boyle finished third in the 400, 800, and 1500m freestyles.
The 27-year-old from New Zealand will have to race against Ledecky in one of her best races, the 800m freestyle, on August eighth assuming that both of them make the finals.
Ledecky is the clear favorite heading into that race, with Boyle making a good case for silver.
* she was behind Lotte by 3 sevonds on the last 100.
fyi Boglarka Kapas took down her personal best by 15(!!!) seconds. I believe she deserves more than half sentence in this article coming from the fourth place trailing behind Lotte by 3 seconds eventually beating her by 2…