Star-spangled effort gives Ledecky record

US teen sets new mark in 800 en route to fourth gold medal

Teenager Katie Ledecky admitted exceeding her own expectations after breaking her second world record and winning her fourth gold in the women's 800m freestyle at world aquatics championships on Saturday.

Having already won the 400m gold and broken the 1,500m world record in Tuesday's final, the 16-year-old US star completed the set in the freestyle events with a new 800m world record of 8 min, 13.86 sec in Barcelona.