Katie Ledecky wins fourth 1,500-meter freestyle title, record-extending 17th overall

BUDAPEST, Hungary — Katie Ledecky led an American one-two and won her fourth 1,500-meter freestyle title at the world swimming championships Monday.

Ledecky never looked threatened and clocked 15:30.15 — just under 10 seconds more than her world record from 2018 — to finish 14.74 seconds ahead of Katie Grimes.

Ledecky punched the water in delight before waiting to embrace her teammate.

“To share this moment with her is really special,” Ledecky said.

Grimes, 16, is the second-youngest medalist in the 1,500 at a worlds since Ledecky won it for the first time in 2013.

“I was really nervous leading up to it because it’s my first world championships and Team USA has been doing a great job, so I wanted to keep that going,” Grimes said.

Italy’s Thomas Ceccon, meanwhile, set a world record in the men’s 100 backstroke with a time of 51.60 seconds, shaving 0.15 seconds off the previous best mark set by American Ryan Murphy at the 2016 Olympics.

“Yesterday I swam 52.1, very easy,” Ceccon said. “I am feeling good in water and just doing my race, staying calm and focusing on my race. And that’s it.”

Murphy finished second, 0.37 seconds behind, followed by compatriot Hunter Armstrong, 0.38 behind Ceccon.

“Hats off to Thomas,” Murphy said of seeing his record beaten. “That’s a really, really fast time and it’s going to be an exciting couple of years.”

Ceccon is the second Italian man to set a world record in long-course swimming after Giorgio Lamberti. Lamberti held the record in the men’s 200 freestyle from 1989 to ’99. Ceccon is also the youngest gold medalist at 21 in the men’s 100 backstroke at a worlds since the then-19-year-old Aaron Peirsol of the United States won in 2003.

Ledecky also won in 2015 and 2017 and has at least four world titles in the each of the 1,500-, 800- and 400-meter freestyle events. The gold Monday was her record-extending 17th…