- The FINA World Championships are underway.
- Katie Ledecky has been suffering from an undiagnosed illness during FINA.
- Many winners in FINA automatically qualify for Tokyo 2020.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Katie Ledecky is heading to the 800m freestyle final at the FINA championships on Saturday.
Pushing Through Illness
It’s clear that Ledecky’s undiagnosed illness is affecting her FINA World Championships results. So far, she has won two silver medals. In the 400m freestyle individual and the 4x200m relay, she won silver medals. Although those are impressive feats, we are more used to seeing Ledecky win gold.
Unfortunately, there were moments where Ledecky could not even compete. Illness caused Ledecky to withdraw from the 400m freestyle and the 1,500m freestyle. The 1,500m freestyle is her best event, so Ledecky could have won if she was healthy.
But Ledecky still wants to swim. She competed in the 800m freestyle event and finished second with a time of 8:14.42. Leah Smith from team USA finished in first. Both swimmers are heading to the 800m freestyle finals on Saturday.
OlympicBettingOdds.com knows normally, swimmers who complete a heat will immediately look at the clock to see their results. Ledecky did not. She was clearly out of breath and exhausted from the 800m heat. After Ledecky left the pool, she went straight to the warm-down pool. She did not take any questions from reporters and looked drained.
But now Ledecky has the time to rest. After 800m heat, she will likely not enter the pool until the finals on Saturday. That gives around 33 hours to rest and recover from her illness. The 800m freestyle is Ledecky’s last shot to win gold at the FINA World Championships. Team USA is hoping Ledecky will get the rest she needs for the 800m freestyle finals on Saturday.