On the first day of the meet, Ledecky anchored the 800-yard freestyle relay with a 1:40.28 split to break the NCAA, American, and U.S. Open record in the 800-yard freestyle relay with Lia Neal, Katie Drabot, and Ella Eastin. But her career is also a two-way conversation. "She's relatively short (at 5-foot-11) and she doesn't have an excessive wingspan." Nevertheless, Ledecky's arms are long enough to wrap around what could. Many of the top women in the world also possess great height, as world record-holders Sarah Sjostrom and Katie Ledeckey are both six feet tall (1.83m), while 100 free gold medalists Simone Manuel. Katie Ledecky. ", "The graduate: What Katie Ledecky learned at Stanford and how it might make her faster", "2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (swimming) Women's 800-metre freestyle (final)", "2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (swimming) Women's 400-metre freestyle (final)", "2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials (swimming) Women's 200 metre freestyle (semifinals)", U.S. Olympic swimming trials: Katie Ledecky breaks Janet Evans's 400 freestyle age group record, "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's 800 metres freestyle round one", "Swimming at the 2012 London Summer Games: Women's 800 metres freestyle final", "Katie Ledecky wins 400 freestyle at world championships", "Katie Ledecky smashes 1500m freestyle world record for a golden double", "15th FINA World Championships Women's 4x200m Freestyle", "Bethesda's Katie Ledecky sets world record in 800-meter freestyle, wins fourth gold medal of world championships", "Driving test looming for Ledecky after Barcelona splash", Janet Evans sees parallels with Katie Ledecky, Katie Ledecky Sets World Record in 1,500-Meter Freestyle, Pan Pacific Championships, Results: Katie Ledecky Trounces Pan Pacs Record in 200 Free, Katie Ledecky Smashes 400 Free World Record, Nearly Clears 3:58! At the 2014 US National Championships, the qualifying meet for both the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships and the 2015 World Aquatics Championships, Ledecky finished first in the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter freestyle. Ledecky made her first splash in international swimming after her freshman year at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in . [54], Ledecky won a second gold in the 200-meter freestyle with a personal best of 1:53.73, beating Sarah Sjstrm by 0.35 seconds. She reset her American, NCAA, and U.S. Open records in the 800-yard freestyle relay, 500-yard freestyle, and 400-yard freestyle relay and won a meet-best five race titles overall. Katie wants to win by the most massive margin possible, but I dont think she wants to break anyones soul like Michael Jordan did. So did Phelps asymmetrical stroke thats known as galloping or loping and is common among high-level men. Is it her training? [96] In the evening final of the 400 meter freestyle, Ledecky finished first with a time of 4:01.27, securing her first spot on her third US Olympic Team swimming the 400 meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics. A similar picture covered the front of the building as the trials took place last month, another reminder that she is the face of the sport. Shes also remained remarkably healthy, aside from occasional illnesses, in a sport in which unrelenting training exacts a toll on the body. [84] Readers of The London Evening Standard voted Ledecky the International Sportswoman of the Decade. Critics arent satisfied, Olympic snowboarders accuse USOPC, national federation of sex trafficking in lawsuit, Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier take pairs gold at U.S. [108][109][110] Ledecky swam a 15:40.50 in the 1500 meter freestyle, lowering her Championship Record from the day before and becoming the first winner of the women's 1500 meter freestyle at the US Olympic Trials. The 400? Sports, however, bring a desire for answers, for numbers, for specifics, especially for someone whose accomplishments almost have become disorienting. . The swim was the fifth-fastest in history and earned Ledecky the 28 fastest times in the distance. This is something really, really special.. [23], At the 2012 United States Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska (her first senior national competition), Ledecky made the Olympic team by placing first in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:19.78, which was over two seconds ahead of second-place finisher Kate Ziegler. "Katie Ledecky is the student that takes 20 credits a semester at Harvard and gets a 4.0 every semester -- and nobody likes that person," said Elizabeth Beisel, a 2012 Olympic silver and bronze . She has recognition of these things in the middle of a race and can make an adjustment. They review the video together, as much for what he notices as her feedback. (Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post) At . [44] Ledecky was also named the female swimmer of the meet. She has the 24 fastest swims of all time. Shes doing what everybody else does. On the third day of the meet, Ledecky set her fourth meet record in the 400-meter freestyle prelim heats with a time of 4:03.09. Her time of 7:57.42 surpassed Mireia Belmonte's mark from 2013.[142]. With this win being Ledecky's twelfth World Championship gold medal, Ledecky passed Missy Franklin for the most gold medals won by a female swimmer in long course World Championships history.[70]. Katie just dives in headfirst and really forces you to get the most out of practice. Ledecky concluded the championships with another gold medal in the 1500-meter freestyle, winning by a margin of 21.11-seconds (15:38.97). They are the first Olympians to be given this honor. Shes not doing some special strength program that nobody else knows about. At 6 feet, the second-time Olympian is not extraordinarily tall compared with her peers. She became the first woman to win four individual gold medals at a single Pan Pacific Championship. She broke the existing mark by five seconds. [115][116] The following day in the final, Ledecky won with a time of 8:14.62 and qualified to swim the 800 meter freestyle at the 2020 Summer Olympics for the United States.[117][118]. That shows a mastery. When Ledecky isn't training, she doesn't stray much from her . "[18], During the championships' closing ceremonies, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet.[43]. [109][111] She swam a 1:55.11 in the 200 meter freestyle. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Ledecky won two gold medals and two silver medals, making her the most decorated U.S. female athlete for a second straight Summer Olympics. Some days she left him absolutely demolished and approached record paces in the middle of exhausting workouts. At the 2019 World Aquatics Championships in Gwangju, South Korea, Ledecky battled illness and withdrew from two events before winning her fourth-straight World Championship title in the 800-meter freestyle. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:54.02, and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:43.39. [29] In the final, Ledecky stunned the field, winning gold by more than four seconds, with a time of 8:14.63, the then second-fastest effort of all time just behind Rebecca Adlington's world record of 8:14.10 set in 2008. Her 400-meter split was 4:04.34, a personal best for Ledecky in that distance, and would have placed fifth in the individual 400-meter freestyle. But she addressed it and moved forward. Figure Skating championships. Ledecky qualified in the heats with a time of 3:58.71, an Olympic record. Mary Gen Ledecky, who swam in college, encouraged her daughter to write down goals. [90], On Thursday May 20, 2021, at the Longhorn Aquatics Elite Invite Ledecky won the long course 100 meter freestyle final by one one-hundredth of a second in a time of 53.82 with second place going to Simone Manuel. [72], At the NCAA Championships, Ledecky won the 500 and 1650-yard freestyle events by record margins and anchored the winning 800-yard freestyle relay team of Katie Drabot, Brooke Forde, and Ella Eastin. In Budapest, Ledecky broke the World Aquatics Championships' all-time female gold medal record, winning five golds and one silver to bring her career title total to 14. And theyre ultimately suggestions straining to answer a larger question. Verified. Her wins came in the 200-, 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle and the 4200-meter freestyle. It might be easy to brush off the prediction as a fluke, but chance doesnt play much of a role when Ledecky is involved. If any single item is responsible for her transformation, the grueling sessions away from television cameras and autograph-seeking fans might be it. How fast would Torri Huske, the 18-year-old phenom headed to Stanford this fall, swim in the 100 butterfly final? And Ariarne Titmus, the 20-year-old sensation nicknamed The Terminator, posted the second-best time in history a day earlier at the Australian trials. Thats amazing.. The Australian, who beat Ledecky to 400m freestyle gold on Monday, also took victory in Wednesday's 200m freestyle final, with Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey in second and Canada's Penny Olesiak. But she acknowledged having the same nerves as any other competitor at the trials and, in all sincerity, said she didnt take making the Tokyo Games for granted. On the seventh day of competition, Ledecky completed her World Championships run by winning gold in the 800-meter freestyle in a world record time of 8:07.39, breaking her own record by 3.61 seconds.[44]. An iron will? [25][26] Her third-place finish in the 400-meter freestyle was the fastest time ever swum by a 15- to 16-year-old American. In the debut of the women's 1500 meter freestyle at the Summer Olympics, Ledecky set an Olympic record in her heat with a time of 15:35.35 and advanced to the final ranked first overall. God? Katie Ledecky, byname of Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky, (born March 17, 1997, Washington, D.C., U.S.), American swimmer who was one of the sport's dominant freestylers in the early 21st century, breaking numerous records. The world record margin for the 12 other individual events in the Olympic program is 0.44%. She keeps logbooks chronicling most of her practices dating to 2011. It cant be easy to go train against Katie when you know youre going to get your head kicked in, said Keenan Robinson, Phelps longtime strength and conditioning coach. The standards for her externally, I think, are just tough sometimes, Meehan said. Katie Ledecky has no obvious physiological advantages as a swimmer. 3x U.S. Olympic Swimmer (2012, 2016, 2021) 7x Olympic Gold Medalist 19x World Champion Stanford grad #TeamTYR -
[email protected]. In the final, Ledecky swam to an early lead before Italian swimmer Simona Quadarella took over midway through the race. She has won seven Olympic gold medals and 19 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. Swimming the third leg, Ledecky passed Australia and Canada to take the lead with the third-fastest split in history (1:53.67). Twelve of the top 14 times. Shes not doing some special strength program that nobody else knows about. She qualified in the heats with an Olympic record, 8:12.86, and set a world record in the finals of 8:04.79, over 11 seconds faster than the silver medalist, Jazmin Carlin. Just over an hour later, Ledecky took third in the 200-meter freestyle (1:55.15), finishing behind Canada's Taylor Ruck (1:54.44) and Japan's Rikako Ikee (1:54.85). [34], Ledecky scored more points than any other swimmer to earn the FINA trophy for best female swimmer of the meet.[35]. She certainly is.. [92] Because training facilities were closed during the pandemic, Ledecky and her colleague Simone Manuel trained for the Olympics in a 25-yard private pool in Atherton, in the backyard of masters swimmer Tod Spieker. No. [126] She swam a 1:55.34 in the semifinals of the 200 meter freestyle and advanced to the final ranking third overall. Some of these things that might have come naturally and unconsciously when she was 16, now its conscious, Mark said. [62] On the meet's final day, Ledecky joined Manuel, Neal, and Janet Hu to break the NCAA and American record in the 400-yard freestyle relay. [61] On the meet's third day, she won the 400-yard individual medley in a new American record of 3:57.68 before finishing second to teammate Simone Manuel in the 200-yard freestyle with a personal best time less than a half hour later. She has an uncanny ability to remain herself, not flinch in the face of scrutiny and focus on the task at hand. [64] On the meet's final day, Ledecky set an NCAA record in the 1000-yard freestyle (9:06.90) en route to a championship record in the 1650-yard freestyle (15:07.70), defeating runner-up Smith by 21.19 seconds and lapping all other competitors. Im willing to bet she has a V02 max thats better than anybody else on the face of the earth, Robinson said, referring to the maximum amount of oxygen a person uses while exercising. Thats whats allowing her to get such a good grab of the water and have such good force generation per stroke.. All of this feeds Ledeckys ability to do things in the pool that arent normal. The 1,500? This was Ledecky's first international loss in a final in individual event. This is a completely different kind of race, 30 laps of endurance that is part of the womens Olympic program in Tokyo for the first time. She settled for the silver this time in 3:57.36, the fourth-fastest time ever recorded. Ledecky was a USA Olympic team member in 2012, 2016, and 2020, and holds the female record for most individual gold medals (14) and overall gold medals (19) at the World Aquatics Championships. Get the latest on L.A.'s teams in the daily Sports Report newsletter. She has an elder brother. Before she entered the pool, the United States was trailing both Australia and China, but she swam a time of 1:53.76 to finish the race 0.4 seconds behind the Chinese swimmer Li Bingjie and ahead of Australia, who were the favorites coming into the competition. Katie wants to win by the most massive margin possible, but I dont think she wants to break anyones soul like Michael Jordan did, Barbini said. She wasnt a great kicker. Ledecky's success has earned her Swimming World's Female World Swimmer of the Year a record-breaking five times. [19], In December 2016, Ledecky was chosen as one of the sponsors of the US Navy aircraft carrier USSEnterprise alongside gymnast Simone Biles. Ledecky accepted an athletic scholarship to Stanford University, where she swam for coach Greg Meehan's Stanford Cardinal women's swimming team. I dont think she had a clue how fast she was going. She has an unnatural sense of what will happen in the pool call it swimming intelligence thats as impressive to witness as it is difficult to quantify. The team lowered its previous record with a time of 3:07.61, securing a 526.5366 decision over runner-up California-Berkeley, the largest championship margin of victory since 2003. [57] Ledecky's final medal total (four golds, one silver) is the most decorated single-Olympics performance by a U.S. female athlete in terms of gold medals, topping Missy Franklin (2012; four golds, 1 bronze), Simone Biles (2016; four golds, 1 bronze), and Amy Van Dyken (1996; four golds). Ledecky won easily in 4 minutes 1.27 seconds, the 43rd-fastest swim ever by a woman. At the Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Washington, Ledecky earned Swimmer of the Meet honors with four American records as Stanford won its first conference title in four years. The next day, Ledecky lowered her own mark again in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:25.15. Having already set 11 world records, she is a favorite to win at the Rio Olympics in the women's 200-, 400- and. Ledecky, who could reach only 21 inches a few years earlier, reached a personal-best 39 inches. During her career, she has broken sixteen world records. Then the windmilling to the other side resumed. Ledecky's supremacy is not born of any freakish physiological gifts such as Phelps' enormous wingspan or double jointed ankles. The swimmer wowed the world in 2012 when she competed in her first Olympics at just 15 and won a gold medal in the 800-meter freestyle competition. [51] At the conclusion of the week, Ledecky was named the female swimmer of the meet. Coaches, teammates and competitors point to her powerful stroke, legendary training sessions, unusual blend of speed and endurance, and tenacity that is otherworldly. No detail is too small. Ledecky leaves some of the most experienced people in swimming grasping for the secret to her dominance. (Charlie Neibergall / Associated Press) Michael Phelps, the 28-time. Her physiology? [65] In the meet's final event, Ledecky joined Manuel, Neal, and Hu to swim the second leg of Stanford's 400-yard freestyle relay. She feels water better than anyone else has ever felt water, Barbini said. On the first day of competition, Ledecky won gold in the 800-meter freestyle with a championship-record time of 8:09.13, topping runner-up Ariarne Titmus of Australia by 7.94 seconds. But the time was almost five seconds off Ledeckys world record set in Rio. Theres a lot more pressure when youre 24 and going to the Olympics for your third Games as a heavy favorite versus being 15 and going to the Olympics with barely anyone knowing your name. At year's end, Ledecky was named the World Swimmer of the Year and American Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World magazine. But can I please just watch? During their next training session, he recalled, she said, Weve got to get our 40. She did. A lot of people have the tendency to want to protect themselves in their training, Sweetser said. Ledecky opened the Trials with a win and meet record in the 400-meter freestyle (3:58.98). [132][133] Additionally, Ledecky signed on to be a volunteer swim coach for the Florida Gators. In Bethesda, she attended Little Flower School through eighth grade and graduated from Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in 2015. And Katie's got tiny feet, too. Ledecky's swim was the seventh-fastest performance in history. Matt Barbini, USA Swimmings national team performance director, recalled the feeling after Ledeckys surprise victory in the 800 at the London Olympics in 2012 introduced the little-known teenager to the world. At the academic year's conclusion, the College Sports Information Directors of America named Ledecky the Division I Academic All-America Team Member of the Year for her athletic and academic achievements. She took silver in her first race of the Games, and then missed out on medaling in the 200 . Athlete. [124][125] In the same prelims session as the 1500 meter freestyle, Ledecky ranked first in the 200 meter freestyle with a time of 1:55.28 and advanced to the event's semifinals. David Marsh, an assistant on the team who served as the womens coach in 2016, recalled coaches gathering when Ledecky swam. Katie Ledecky reacts after winning her heat in the Womens 200 Freestyle during the second wave of the U.S. Olympic Swim Trials on June 15 in Omaha, Neb. She doesnt have Phelps attention-grabbing build that included an 80-inch wingspan and size-14 feet that seemed to double as flippers. Ledecky is the world record holder in the women's 800- and 1500-meter freestyle (both long course and short course) as well as the former world record holder in the women's 400-meter freestyle (long course).