American Katie Ledecky dominates 1,500m at world c'ships, Italy's Thomas Ceccon breaks backstroke record

American Katie Ledecky dominated the women`s 1,500 metres freestyle event to claim her second gold medal at the swimming world championships in Budapest on Monday, while Italy`s Thomas Ceccon smashed the men`s 100m backstroke world record.

Ledecky, who won the women`s 400 metres freestyle event on the opening day, cruised to the gold medal with a time of 15 minutes and 30.15 seconds. The 25-year-old finished more than 14 seconds ahead of compatriot Katie Grimes who took the silver while Australia`s Lani Pallister took the bronze.

"I love this pool, I knew I put in the work to have a good swim and got into a rhythm," Ledecky said. "I`ve got the relay, that`s next on the agenda and then I will tackle the 800m. We`ll see (if I can get a record)."

Ceccon, 21, finished the 100m backstroke with a phenomenal time of 51.60 seconds -- 0.25 seconds better than American Ryan Murphy`s previous mark. Murphy, a four-times Olympic gold medallist, finished second while fellow American Hunter Armstrong was third.

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"I have no words, there was an Olympic champion in 2016 (Murphy) and other strong people (in the field). I`m pretty happy," said a speechless Ceccon. Earlier, Romanian teenager David Popovici smashed the world junior record as he powered to victory to take gold in the men`s 200 metres freestyle event.

The 17-year-old became the first male Romanian swimmer to win gold at the world championships as he finished with a time of 1:43.21. He finished more than a second ahead of South Korea`s Hwang Sun-woo while Britain`s reigning Olympic champion Tom Dean finished third.