Olympics Latest: US swimmer Ledecky easily wins 1500m

TOKYO (AP) — The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:

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MEDAL ALERT

Katie Ledecky has finally collected her first gold medal of the Tokyo Games.

Ledecky has won the 1,500-meter freestyle, which made its Olympic debut for women this year. That helped the American star make up for what has so far been the worst showing of her Olympic career.

About an hour after finishing fifth in the 200-meter freestyle, Ledecky held off teammate Erica Sullivan to win the metric mile in 15 minutes, 37.34 seconds.

Sullivan claimed the silver in 15:41.41, while Germany’s Sarah Kohler grabbed the bronze in 15:42.91.

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MEDAL ALERT

Japanese swimmer Yui Ohashi has swept the women’s individual medley at the Tokyo Olympics.

Ohashi rallied to win the 200-meter medley, beating Americans Alex Walsh and Kate Douglass. Ohashi had previously won the 400-meter individual medley.

The winning time was 2 minutes, 8.52 seconds. Walsh took the silver in 2:08.65, while the bronze went to Douglass in 2:09.04.

Defending Olympic champion and world record-holder Katinka Hosszu of Hungary finished seventh. She was the oldest swimmer in the final at age 32.

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MEDAL ALERT

China has wrapped a record-setting first day of rowing finals by smashing the world record in women’s quadruple sculls and winning gold.

The Chinese boat finished in 6 minutes, 0.13 seconds and shaved nearly two seconds off the previous mark set by the Netherlands in 2014. The race was never close. Poland won silver more than 6 seconds behind the Chinese. Australia won bronze for that country’s fourth medal of the day.

Windy conditions produced a strong tailwind for the rowers at Tokyo’s Sea...