Dhaka, July 30 -- Katie Ledecky cruised to a dominant 1,500m freestyle gold in Singapore on Tuesday to claim the 22nd world title of her storied career. The American great touched the wall in 15min 26.44sec, ahead of Simona Quadarella of Italy in 15:31.79 and Australia's Lani Pallister in 15:41.18.

The masterful win moved all-time great Ledecky four short of Michael Phelps's career tally of 26 world gold medals.

It also gave her the sixth world 1,500m freestyle title of her career and she paraded around the arena afterwards with the American flag.

"I love this race. This race was the race that I broke my first world record in in 2013," said Ledecky, 28, who has won nine Olympic golds.

"Lots of great races and memories over the years a...