A Week of Katie Ledecky Stats (Day One): All the Records of Her Storied Career
One week after she stunningly lowered her world record in the 800-meter freestyle to 8:04.12, Swimming World is kicking off A Week of Katie Ledecky Statistics. Each day for the next week, we’ll run a short piece that highlights Ledecky-related stats, numbers that place additional context on her legendary career.
For more than a decade, Katie Ledecky has been breaking records. Her first world record came at the 2013 World Championships, but her national-record-setting ways began a year earlier when the then-15-year-old broke an 800 freestyle mark set by the great Janet Evans 22 years earlier.
Since then, Ledecky has broken 17 total individual world records, with 15 in long-course meters plus two in short-course meters. Her first 14 long-course world records came during a span of under five years between July 2013 and May 2018. Ledecky’s two short-course world records came during the FINA World Cup tour in 2022, and she resumed her record-breaking ways in dramatic fashion last week.
Katie Ledecky’s Long-Course World Records
- 1500 Freestyle (LCM): 15:36.53, 2013 World Championships (July 30)
- 800 Freestyle (LCM): 8:13.86, 2013 World Championships (August 3)
- 1500 Freestyle (LCM): 15:34.23, 2014 Woodlands Senior Invite (June 19)
- 800 Freestyle (LCM): 8:11.00, 2014 Woodlands Senior Invite (June 22)
- 400 Freestyle (LCM): 3:58.86, 2014 U.S. Nationals (August 9)
- 400 Freestyle (LCM): 3:58.37, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships (August 23)
- 1500 Freestyle (LCM), 15:28.36, 2014 Pan Pacific Championships (August 24)
- 1500 Freestyle (LCM): 15:27.71, 2015 World Championships (August 3, in prelims)
- 1500 Freestyle (LCM): 15:25.48, 2015 World Championships (August 4)
- 800 Freestyle (LCM): 8:07.39, 2015 World Championships (August 8)
- 800 Freestyle (LCM): 8:06.68, 2016 Pro Swim Series Austin (January 17)
- 400 Freestyle (LCM): 3:56.46, 2016 Olympic Games (August 7)
- 800 Freestyle (LCM): 8:04.79, 2016 Olympic Games (August 12)
- 1500 Freestyle (LCM): 15:20.48, 2018 Pro Series Indianapolis (August 16)
- 1500 Freestyle (SCM): 15:08.24, 2022 FINA World Cup Toronto (October 29)
- 800 Freestyle (SCM): 7:57.42, 2022 FINA World Cup Indianapolis (November 5)
- 800 Freestyle (LCM): 8:04.12, 2025 Pro Swim Series Fort Lauderdale (May 5)
Additionally, Ledecky has set 34 individual American records during her career. Thirteen of those records came in short-course yards, 11 in freestyle plus Ledecky’s only records in the 400 IM. In addition to the 17 world records, she has broken two each in long-course meters and short-course meters.
Katie Ledecky’s American Records
- 800 Freestyle (LCM), 8:14.63, 2012 Olympic Games (July 28)
- 400 Freestyle (LCM): 3:59.82, 2013 World Championships (July 28)
- 1650 Freestyle (SCY): 15:15.17, 2013 Winter Nationals (December 7)
- 500 Freestyle (SCY): 4:28.71, 2014 Washington Metro High School Championships (February 5)
- 1650 Freestyle (SCY): 15:13.30, 2014 Winter Nationals (December 6)
- 500 Freestyle (SCY): 4:26.58, 2015 Washington Metro High School Championships (February 6)
- 1000 Freestyle (SCY): 8:59.65, 2015 Nation’s Capital Invitational (December 13)
- 500 Freestyle (SCY): 4:26.46, 2016 Ohio State Invitational (November 18)
- 1650 Freestyle (SCY): 15:03.92, 2016 Ohio State Invitational (November 20)
- 500 Freestyle (SCY): 4:25.15, 2017 Pac-12 Women’s Championships (February 23)
- 400 IM (SCY): 3:57.68, 2017 Pac-12 Women’s Championships (February 24)
- 500 Freestyle (SCY): 4:24.06, 2017 NCAA Championships (March 16)
- 1650 Freestyle (SCY): 15:03.31, 2017 Art Adamson Invitational (November 18)
- 400 IM (SCY): 3:56.53, 2018 Pac-12 Championships (February 23)
- 400 Freestyle (SCM): 3:54.06, 2019 ISL Series Indianapolis (October 6)
- 400 Freestyle (SCM): 3:52.88, 2022 FINA World Cup Toronto (October 28)
- 1650 Freestyle (SCY): 15:01.41, 2023 Florida Spring Senior Championships (March 12)