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Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden took the silver medal while Emma
McKeon of Australia won bronze.
Ledecky, 19, added to her gold in the 400 freestyle on Sunday
and silver in the 4x100 freestyle relay the day before. She
reigns supreme in her final individual event, the 800 freestyle,
which she won at London in 2012.
She now looks overwhelmingly likely to achieve her goal of three
individual golds in the 200, 400 and 800 - a feat not achieved
at a single Games since American Debbie Meyer accomplished it in
Mexico City in 1968.
Ledecky described the race as grueling, saying she "hurt really
badly" and pushed herself "to the max."
"Pretty sure that's the closest I've come to throwing up in the
middle of a race," Ledecky said. "I'm just so glad I got my hand
on the wall first."
Ledecky called the 200 meter event "a much more stressful race"
than the 400 or the 800 and later said she's feeling strong
going into the 800 heats on Thursday.
"I'm excited, I'm feeling really good this week."
McKeon, a gold medalist in the 4x100 freestyle relay, led at
half-way, with Ledecky second and Sjostrom third.
At the final turn, Ledecky led from Sjostrom, and the two were
matched stroke for stroke as they entered the last 25 meters,
but the American pulled ahead to touch the wall in one minute,
53.73 seconds.
Sjostrom, who won the 100 butterfly on Sunday, clocked 1:54.08
and McKeon 1:54.92.
Sjostrom said the 200-metre distance is a struggle for her and
said it's "always tough" to race Ledecky, whom she called "the
queen of freestyle".
"The freestyle has always been like the worst event for me,"
Sjostrom said. "It's always very tough mentally."
(Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
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