Leah Smith, a graduate of Oakland Catholic high school, will be bringing home a gold medal to Pittsburgh.
Smith was part of the four-person, 800-meter freestyle relay team for Team USA last night. Other members included Katie Ledecky, Allison Schmitt and Maya DiRado. The team finished with a golden time of 7:43.03. Winning the silver medal were the Australians with 7:44.87. The Canadians won bronze with their 7:45.39 time.
Schmitt started off the race, with Smith swimming second. Smith then made way to DiRado, and Ledecky, who won her fourth gold medal in Rio with the relay, took it home. Smith now has two medals to her name: one gold and one bronze. Smith’s bronze came from the 400-meter freestyle swim.
“I think all summer, people were saying we didn’t have the best meet as a team at the World Championships,” Smith said after her swim. “Even though we felt like we had an awesome meet, that kind of put a little fire under us. It motivated us to swim fast. I mean, it’s the Olympics, and everybody’s motivated to swim fast, but this is just our tradition.”
Smith will swim today around noon in the women’s 800-meter freestyle heats. Smith will be swimming in Heat 4 along with her American counterpart Ledecky.
