Swimmer Katie Ledecky Breaks Record, Takes Gold In Rio As U.S. Medal Count Grows

NPR

Published August 8, 2016 at 2:11 PM EDT

Katie Ledecky of the United States celebrates winning gold and setting a new world record in the Women's 400m Freestyle Final on Day 2 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium on Aug. 7, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

The U.S. medal count is quickly ticking up, with top-three finishes in shooting, archery and fencing.

The first week of the Summer Olympics features the swimming events. A day after adding a record 19th gold medal to his collection, Michael Phelps swims in preliminaries of the men’s 200 meter butterfly Monday afternoon. He holds the world and Olympic records in the event.

American Katie Ledecky crushed her own world record in the 400 freestyle Sunday night, touching nearly 5 seconds ahead of her closest pursuer, and now focuses on the women’s 200 meter freestyle.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with Nicole Auerbach of USA Today, who’s in Rio, about who she’ll be watching this week at the Summer Games.

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article.

Guest

Nicole Auerbach, reporter for USA Today Sports. She tweets @NicoleAuerbach.