[137], Ledecky won the 1500-meter freestyle two days later in a time of 15:30.15, over 14 seconds faster than runner-up and teammate Katie Grimes. With the victory, Ledecky became the first swimmer, male or female, to win five consecutive world championship titles in an individual event. Gemmell warned other men in the training camp to be ready for Ledecky to beat them. Katie Ledecky competes in the womens 1500-meter freestyle during the U.S. Olympic swim trials on June 16 in Omaha, Neb. More recently, in the 1,500 at the Olympic trials, again, except . 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. Katie Ledekcy won two golds and two silvers at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. During the 201617 NCAA season, Ledecky set 12 NCAA records and nine American records while swimming as a freshman for Stanford University. There were many times where she was walking up for practice and I think, Thats the best female athlete in the world? Id just kind of chuckle to myself because theres nothing that said that.. With four golds, Ledecky expanded her career World Championships medal haul to 22, passing Natalie Coughlin for most for a female swimmer. Sometimes that happens. What happened took everyone by surprise. In a video posted on social media last summer, Ledecky placed a glass of chocolate milk on her head, then swam the length of the pool. On the fifth day of competition, Ledecky, with Missy Franklin, Leah Smith, and Katie McLaughlin won gold in the 4200-meter freestyle relay. Three days later, Ledecky then broke the world record in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8:11.00,[37] bettering her previous mark of 8:13.86. In the 1650-yard freestyle, Ledecky re-set her NCAA record in the 1000-yard free with a split of 9:05.89 en route to winning by more than 28 seconds. Shes not doing it for the adulation, shes not doing it for the title of the worlds greatest swimmer, the coach said. A combination of protein (like chicken, steak, or salmon) and a carb (like rice, vegetable, or pasta) rounds out her day. Katie Ledecky is the most decorated of female swimmer in history with six individual Olympic gold medals and 14 individual long course world titles to date. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky erased a 1.2-second deficit going into the final leg of the race, passing Australia's Melanie Schlanger with a 1:54.36 split over the final 200 meters. [84] Readers of The London Evening Standard voted Ledecky the International Sportswoman of the Decade. But within an hour of each other? [135] Ledecky earned FINA's female swimmer of the meet trophy for a third time. Huske won the race and set an American record in the event. 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). [52], Ledecky's first event in the 2016 Summer Olympics was the 4100-meter freestyle relay, swimming the anchor leg for the United States in both the prelims and final. She has an elder brother. God? Nathan Fenno is a sports enterprise reporter for the Los Angeles Times focused on investigations, features and in-depth stories. She set a time of 15:08.24, breaking the previous world record set by German swimmer Sarah Khler by almost 10 seconds. Were content to enjoy the gift. [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. Oh, man, this is not exactly what we thought, he said. The 800? But everybody feels that.. On the final day of competition, she reset her world record in the 800-meter freestyle, clocking a time of 8:06.68. 'Gallop' or a 'giddy-up' Once the swimmers emerge from below the surface and. Midway through the 25-meter journeys at the Palisades Swim and Tennis Club in Cabin John, Md., shed grab a lane line and catch her breath like so many other 6-year-olds figuring out how to swim. Other than standing 6 feet tall, a couple of inches above the average height for female swimming finalists at the Rio Games, she could blend into a crowd outside of the pool. Winning both? Ledecky trailed Quadarella into the final wall. In the final, she joined Simone Manuel, Abbey Weitzeil, and Dana Vollmer and recorded a split of 52.79, helping the team earn a silver medal (behind Australia) with a time of 3:31.89, a new national record for the United States. 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]. At the Texas A&M Invitational in November 2017, Ledecky lowered her American and U.S. Open mark in the 1650-yard freestyle with a time of 15:03.31. Shes kind of a freak athlete. The questions pile up too. Ledecky won by 4.13 seconds and just missed the world record by 0.53 seconds. She has won seven Olympic gold medals and 19 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. We dont clamor for such answers while admiring a sopranos voice or an actors ability to make us weep. [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. Twice each week, she trained against long-distance swimmers Liam Egan and True Sweetser. [130] Ledecky won her second gold medal of the Olympics and her seventh of all time in the 800-meter freestyle. [42] Ledecky lapped three competitors in the final and finished 27.33 seconds ahead of silver medalist Boyle. When she started working with Gemmell in 2012, she could not . The usual gap for a world record is as thin as an Olympic medal. And Katie's got tiny feet, too. After earning a berth on the U.S. Olympic team at age 15, she set an American record in the 800-meter freestyle to. [16] Her uncle Jon Ledecky is a businessman and a co-owner of the NHL team New York Islanders. Less than an hour later, Ledecky won the 800-meter freestyle, swimming under her world record pace for most of the race before touching in at 8:11.35, the second-fastest time ever, to win by 7.52 seconds over New Zealand swimmer Lauren Boyle.[40]. But she shows gratitude and appreciation and keeps people coming back to get their heads kicked in.. Coming Sunday: Home subscribers will receive the Los Angeles Times 24-page Olympic preview section, your guide to the upcoming Games. Her body measurement is 34-24-35 inches. [94][95] The 400 meter freestyle was the first race on Ledecky's schedule where she had the opportunity to make the 2020 USA Olympic Team. [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]. [46], On the third day of competition during the morning session, Ledecky swam in the heats of the 200-meter freestyle and qualified first with a time of 1:55.82. One key is obsessive attention to detail. [139], On day 7, Ledecky won her final event by over 10 seconds, recording a time of 8:08.04 in the 800-meter freestyle. Shes not doing some special strength program that nobody else knows about. 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. Then it did. Relief seemed to be the main emotion that sunk into Katie Ledecky's face as she touched the wall to claim her first gold medal of the Tokyo Olympics.. Ledecky's victory in the 1500m freestyle . At 6 feet, the second-time Olympian is not extraordinarily tall compared with her peers. At 6 feet, the second-time Olympian is not extraordinarily tall compared with her peers. A seven-time Olympic gold medalist and record-breaking swimmer, 24-year-old Katie Ledecky is one of the most decorated Olympic athletes from the Tokyo games. 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. Her six individual gold medals are the most of any female Olympic swimmer and female US Olympian, and the second-most of all Olympic swimmers behind Michael Phelps. During her career, she has broken sixteen world records. She won the 200-, 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle races. It might be easy to brush off the prediction as a fluke, but chance doesnt play much of a role when Ledecky is involved. [24] In Omaha, Ledecky also placed third in the 400-meter freestyle (4:05.00) and ninth in the 200-meter freestyle (1:58.66). Then theres the sheer efficiency of how her body works. 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. [68] Later that evening, Ledecky swam the third leg of the 4100-meter freestyle. At year's end, Ledecky was named the World Swimmer of the Year and American Swimmer of the Year by Swimming World Magazine. Ledecky's supremacy is not born of any freakish physiological gifts such as Phelps' enormous wingspan or double jointed ankles. She didnt hesitate to start faster than they expected and maintain the aggressive pace. Shes also remained remarkably healthy, aside from occasional illnesses, in a sport in which unrelenting training exacts a toll on the body. The next morning, Ledecky struggled through her preliminary heat of the 1500-meter freestyle despite qualifying first for the event's final. Shes just doing it better than everybody else.. . In her third, and first relay event of her international career, the 4200-meter freestyle, Ledecky and teammates Shannon Vreeland, Karlee Bispo, and Missy Franklin won gold in 7:45.14. She wasnt a great kicker. 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. "I fought tooth and nail," Ledecky said. She had a smile that seemed bigger than her diminutive frame, swim cap pulled over her ears and enthusiastic post-race analyses captured on home movies. [105][106] Later the same day in the evening semifinals for the 200 meter freestyle, Ledecky finished first with a time of 1:55.83. Swimming the anchor leg, Ledecky recorded a split of 1:54.02, and the Americans finished with an aggregate time of 7:43.39. Hideki Takagi, a professor at the University of Tsukuba in Japan focused on the hydrodynamics and biomechanics of swimming, underlined the importance of this trait. The five-time Olympic gold medalist owns world records in the 400-, 800-, and 1,500-meter freestyles. [20], In December 2020, she completed the required courses for a bachelor of arts in psychology and minor in political science from Stanford University, [21][22] and graduated in June 2021. [58] Ledecky was also the 2nd most decorated Olympian at the 2016 games behind Michael Phelps (5 golds, 1 silver).[59]. Its just her commitment and desire for getting better.. She was just doing what Jon was saying.. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Ledecky qualified to swim in the final of the 800-meter freestyle by placing third overall in the heats with a time of 8:23.84. Before the London Olympics, Ledecky trained at the U.S. teams camp in Knoxville, Tenn., with a small group of middle- and long-distance swimmers under legendary coach Jon Urbanchek. Stanford earned its second team title in as many years. A week after she obliterated the 1500m short-course record, Katie Ledecky broke another - this time in the 800m as she stormed to victory at the FINA World Cup in Indianapolis.. Notably, in the semifinals the day prior, Ledecky recorded the top time in the semifinals with a time of 1:54.69. [30] In addition, she broke Janet Evans' American record of 8:16.22 that had stood since 1989. While every distance swimmer grinds through thousands of monotonous yards each week, these sessions are somehow different for Ledecky. As a freestyle swimmer, Katie possesses fifteen World gold medals, five Olympic golds, and 14 Pan Pacifics. Katie Ledecky is doing what Katie Ledecky does! the public address announcer shouted last month as she completed another convincing victory during the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Neb. What I found over time what she was great at, though, was her desire to get better. Shes really activating her core and that allows her upper body to connect to her lower body and when you put those two together, it gives her really great timing and great catch, said Elizabeth Nagle, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh who studies aquatic physiology. National Team Director Frank Busch described Ledecky's 1500 performance as "the most impressive race I have ever seen, and I've been in the sport for 50 years. She's blazing a completely different trail than anyone who has come before. 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. [109][111] She swam a 1:55.11 in the 200 meter freestyle. We want to know what transformed that girl who couldnt make it across the pool? Some of the boys said, Jon, get her out of our lanes. In the final, Ledecky went out hard and, by the 200-meter mark, she had already established an almost body-length lead. 578k Followers, 883 Following, 422 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Katie Ledecky (@katieledecky) katieledecky. In her international debut at the 2012 London Olympic Games as a 15-year-old, Ledecky unexpectedly won the gold medal in the women's 800-metre freestyle. [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). She became the first woman to win four individual gold medals at a single Pan Pacific Championship. Katie Ledecky. She has an uncanny ability to remain herself, not flinch in the face of scrutiny and focus on the task at hand. The traits, at least individually, arent uncommon in elite swimmers. 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. Do not let it pass over you., Subscribers get early access to this story. Ledecky's time was the sixth-fastest ever (behind only her own performances) and over 7 seconds faster than her winning time at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.