Superstar American swimmer Katie Ledecky has smashed the world record in the women's 800-meter freestyle event at the Rio Summer Olympic Games, while fellow American Michael Phelps was upset by a swimmer from Singapore in the men's 100-meter butterfly.
Ledecky became the first swimmer since American Debbie Meyer in 1968 to sweep the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyle events in a single Olympics. Her time Friday of eight minutes, 4.79 seconds improved on her own world record by nearly two seconds. Ledecky also owns a gold and silver in relay events.
Earlier in the Rio pool, Joseph Schooling of Singapore led the men's 100-meter butterfly from start to finish, edging out Phelps, who swam faster than he had done while winning the same event four years ago in London. It was a stunning upset, with an even more remarkable result: Phelps finished in a three-way tie for second place with two of his long-time rivals, Chad le Close of South Africa and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh.
The race was the final individual event for Phelps in Rio, although he still has a chance to close out his Olympic career with a 23rd gold medal if the U.S. team wins the 4x100-meters relay. Phelps has already won four gold medals in Rio.
American swimmers won gold and bronze in the 50-meter freestyle sprint. Anthony Ervin swam the length of the pool in 21.40 seconds, edging Florent Manaudou of France by 1/100th of a second, and fellow American Nathan Adrian by 9/100ths of a second.
American Maya DiRado won the gold medal in the women's 200-meter backstroke, denying Hungary's Katinka Hosszu a fourth straight gold, earning silver instead.
The first track and field medals of 2016 were awarded Friday, with Ethiopian runner Almaz Ayana taking home the gold and setting a new world record, 29:17.45, for the women's 10,000-meter race. Ayana eclipsed a 23-year-old record time by 14 seconds.
American Michelle Carter of the U.S. - known as the "shot diva" - stunned defending champion Valerie Adams of New Zealand to earn gold in women's shot put, winning with her sixth and final throw. Carter's father Michael won a silver medal in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
In women's football (soccer), the United States lost to Sweden in a quarterfinal match on penalty kicks. The U.S. team had been trying to defend its gold medal from four years ago.
The U.S. men's basketball team eked out a 94-91 victory over Serbia to advance.
The Spanish duo of Rafael Nadal and Marc Lopez won the first tennis gold of the Rio Games in men's doubles. American's Steve Johnson and Jack Sock took home the bronze.
Iran set a world record when Kianoush Rostami earned a gold medal in the men's 85-kilogram weightlifting class with a combined 396 kilos.
Another world record was set at the velodrome when Britain's four-man cycling team won the men's pursuit.
