Katie Ledecky completes rare triple gold in world-record fashion
Phelps wins 27th Olympic medal after three-way tie for silver
Katie Ledecky of the United States destroyed the field in the 800 metres freestyle on Friday and broke the world record to complete a rare Olympic swimming treble.
Ledecky led from the start and inexorably stretched out the gap over her opponents to finish in eight minutes, 4.79 seconds, beating her previous mark of 8:06.68 set in Austin, Texas in January.
Britain's Jazz Carlin won her second silver medal in 8:16.17, and Boglarka Kapas of Hungary took the bronze.
Ledecky the defending Olympic champion at the distance, added to her golds earlier in the week in the 200 and 400 freestyle and the 4x200 freestyle relay, plus a silver in the 4x100 relay.
The only previous woman to win the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle at the same Games was American Debbie Meyer in 1968.
Ledecky sliced 1.89 seconds off her own record in the longest event of the women's swimming programme. It was the seventh world swimming record of the Rio Games, and the second by Ledecky, who achieved a similar feat in winning the 400 freestyle.
Since winning the 800 in London four years ago, she has been invincible, and anything but a victory for the 19-year-old would have been one of the biggest shocks of the Games.
Carlin and Kapas fought a dogged struggle for second, with Spain's Mireia Belmonte Garcia challenging them for much of the way.
Phelps wins 27th Olympic medal
Fellow American Michael Phelps won his 27th career Olympic medal, finishing in a three-way tie for silver in the men's 100m butterfly.
Joseph Schooling upset Phelps to win gold to secure Singapore's first Olympic gold medal and deny Michael Phelps a 23rd in the last individual race of the American's career.
Phelps, the defending champion and world record holder who was aiming to win the event for a fourth consecutive Games, finished second in a three-way dead heat with two of his greatest rivals — South Africa's Chad Le Clos and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh.
Astonishingly, all three touched out in 51.14 seconds, behind Schooling's Olympic record 50.39.
"I'm just ecstatic. I don't think it has set in yet. It's just crazy," said Schooling.
With the silver, Phelps now has 22 career Olympic gold medals, three silvers and two bronzes. He has one event remaining, the 4x100 medley relay on Saturday, before bowing out.
"I don't know if I've (ever) been in a tie, so a three way tie is pretty wild," said Phelps. "I saw a second next to my name and then I looked up again and I looked over at Laszlo and Chad and hey we all tied. We're all second that's kind of cool. It's kind of special, and a decent way to finish my last individual race. Can't complain too much."
Le Clos, who lost his 200m butterfly title to Phelps on Tuesday, failed in his bid to turn the tables but was happy not to have been beaten by him again either.
"Strange is not the right word. Need to create a new one for that," he said. "I got silver tie in London so a three way tie is crazy. Maybe in Tokyo a four way tie."
The tie, although astonishing, was not unprecedented in top level swimming. At least year's world championships in Kazan, Russia, three women tied for 200 breaststroke bronze - Spain's Jessica Vall, Denmark's Rikke Moeller Pedersen and China's Shi Jinglin.
By Reuters