New breed bolstering China's challenge

Katie Ledecky still dominates the world of distance freestyle swimming, but soon the American may not have it all her own way thanks to the inexorable rise of Chinese teenage sensation Wang Jianjiahe.

The 16-year-old Wang had a phenomenal season in 2018. She powered to 800m gold at the short-course world championships last month in Hangzhou, beating Italian Simona Quadarella and Leah Smith of the United States by four seconds. She then played a crucial anchor role in the host's 4x200 free relay victory over traditional powerhouse the United States.

Wang also enjoyed a golden sweep of 400-1500 freestyle titles, as well as a 4X200 relay triumph, at the Asian Games in Indonesia, setting four new Asiad records in the process.