Ledecky breaks 800 freestyle world record

[June 23, 2014]   (Reuters) - Olympic champion Katie Ledecky has broken her own 800 meters freestyle record at a meeting in Texas on Sunday.

The 17-year-old Ledecky, who clinched gold in the distance as a 15-year-old at the 2012 London Olympics clocked eight minutes, 11.00 seconds at the meeting in Shenandoah, Texas on Sunday, breaking her own record by almost three seconds.

Ledecky clocked 8:13.86 in winning gold in the event at last year's world championships in Barcelona.

It was the second world record of the meeting for Ledecky after she also smashed her own record for the 1500 freestyle on Thursday when she clocked 15:34.23 seconds eclipsing her record from Barcelona by 2.3 seconds.

The 1500 is a non-Olympic event, though it is contested at the world championships.

(Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

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