Katie Ledecky Posts 16th-Fastest 1500 Freestyle Ever at Plantation Sectionals
Swimmers such as Ariarne Titmus and Summer McIntosh have surpassed Katie Ledecky in the 400 freestyle. Over 800 meters, Ledecky remains undefeated in her career at major meets, but McIntosh became the second swimmer ever to go sub-8:10 last week. But in the 1500, Ledecky stands far above anyone else in history, even as she approaches 12 years as the world-record holder in the event.
At a Sectionals meet in Plantation, Fla., Ledecky dominated her first official 1500-meter race since winning gold at the Paris Olympics, and she recorded a time of 15:36.87. The mark is the 16th-quickest ever recorded, behind 15 of her own efforts, and it is two seconds quicker than anyone else has ever posted. Denmark’s Lotte Friis is history’s second-fastest performer at 15:38.88 while no one else has ever broken 15:40 in the event. Ledecky’s world record of 15:20.48 was set in May 2018.
Ledecky held a consistent pace throughout the race, clocking 5:11.08 for the first 500 meters, 5:11.97 for the middle portion of her race (quicker than she swam over the same stretch on her way to Olympic gold in the event in Paris) and 5:13.84 coming home. As usual, she had no competition in the event, with the next-fastest swimmer, Isabelle Wilson, coming in at 17:18.35.
Ledecky also raced the 400 free at Sectionals, clocking 4:01.04 in Saturday evening’s session. She was one of three Olympic champions from the Paris Games to race this weekend. McIntosh swam her 8:09.86 on the opening day of the competition, while Bobby Finke, Ledecky’s training partner at the University of Florida, posted wins in the 800 free (7:57.54) and 400 IM (4:20.40) while also racing prelims of the 100 backstroke (57.02) and 200 IM (2:06.66).