Singapore upstart Joseph Schooling stunned swimming legend Michael Phelps at the Rio Olympics as sprint great Usain Bolt set out to write his own new chapter of sporting history. The athletics has already been startled by a world record in the women's 10,000 metre for Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana. Schooling, 21, strayed from the script that had laid out 31-year-old Phelps would get a 23rd career gold medal and fifth of the week in the 100 metres butterfly.
Phelps, who gets one more chance to extend his all-time record medal tally in the 4x100m medley relay on Saturday, was relegated to a three-way dead heat for silver with South African Chad le Clos and Hungary's Laszlo Cseh. He called the result "kind of cool." Schooling, who was inspired to become a top-level swimmer by a meeting with Phelps as a 13-year-old, said the night had been "just crazy." He set an Olympic record of 50.38sec. "He said 'good job, that was a great race'," Schooling told of Phelps's reaction. "I told him to go four more years and he said 'No way.'"
Another new generation swimmer, Katie Ledecky, completed the first 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle treble since 1968 - and with a world record. Katie Ledecky obliterated the field and her own world record in winning the 800m freestyle at the Rio Olympics on Friday, uniting the 200m, 400m and 800m titles for the first time since 1968. The 19-year-old American, who also won the 4x200m relay for four golds overall, touched in 8min 04.79sec, beating the previous record of 8:06.68 she set in Austin, Texas, on January 17.
It was her 13th world record since her shock 800m freestyle win in London four years ago, and the culmination of the plan she and coach Bruce Gemmell had worked for ever since that breakout performance.
And as she contemplated her achievement in Rio, the preternaturally poised teen couldn't hold back her emotions. "Just kind of the end of a four-year journey," she said as the tears flowed. "I don't know why I'm crying. There were nights I would go to bed and think about this day (and) how much fun I've had these past four years, and I'd start crying in bed. "I just wanted to make this meet count." Ledecky touched almost half a length in front of her closest rivals - more than 11 seconds in front of silver medallist Jazz Carlin of Britain's 8:16.17 with Boglarka Kapas of Hungary taking bronze in 8:16.37.
Bolt's script aims for a third treble of the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay golds. While Bolt's superstar status is unblemished, Gatlin, the world's fastest man this year, is still seeking to redeem his name after two doping bans. Eyebrows were raised about the way in which Ethiopia's Ayana smashed the 23-year-old women's 10,000m record by nearly 14 seconds with a time of 29min 17.45sec. Wang Zhen of China won the men's 20km race walk gold, 15 seconds ahead of compatriot Cai Zelin. Britain's Jessica Ennis-Hill leads Belgium's Nafissatou Thiam by 72 points in her bid to retain the heptathlon title. She won the 100m hurdles, finished third in the high jump and second in the shot put and 200m.