Katie Ledecky wins Olympic gold in first-ever women's 1,500-meter freestyle

In a victory that will go down in Olympic history, Katie Ledecky won gold in the first-ever women's 1,500-meter freestyle Wednesday in Tokyo.

The 24-year-old American swimmer finished the race with a time of 15:37.34, a full 4.07 seconds ahead of her teammate, Erica Sullivan, who won the silver medal. Germany's Sarah Kohler took home the bronze.

Once she was out of the pool, Ledecky — who at 16 set the world record for the 1,500-meter — told NBC she thinks of "all the great female swimmers the U.S. had, had they had the opportunity to swim that event ... so many people that I looked up to, that I still look up to; they're great friends of mine. And I'm so glad we could do it in the best possible way."

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This was Ledecky's third event at the Tokyo Olympics, and her win came only about an hour after she finished fifth in the women's 200-meter freestyle, which she won at the 2016 Olympics. Ledecky earned the silver medal in the 400-meter freestyle, and has two more races coming up: the 800-meter freestyle and 4x200 relay.