Ten years ago this week, a 16-year-old American named Katie Ledecky, who had surprised everyone with an Olympic gold, dived into the pool in Barcelona for the women’s 800-meter freestyle at the 2013 world championships. After an impressive swim of eight minutes and 13.86 seconds, she touched the wall, claiming not only a gold medal and a world record but also silencing anyone who doubted her success in London.
Ledecky is the epitome of consistency and excellence. Over the past decade since that Barcelona swim, she has broken her own world record in the 800 freestyle four times, remaining unbeaten in that event. Recently, in Fukuoka, Japan, she extended her reign of dominance to unprecedented levels.
Her latest victory in the 800 freestyle at the world championships, clocking in at 8:08.87, holds significant historical value in two ways. First, it earned Ledecky her 16th individual gold medal at worlds, surpassing Michael Phelps and securing the most all-time. Despite trailing Phelps by one before the meet, she showcased her supremacy by winning her best events, the 1,500 and 800 freestyles, with unmatched skill. Additionally, she secured silver in the 400 free and the 4×200 free relay, bringing her total medals at Worlds to an impressive 25, second only to Phelps (33) and Ryan Lochte (27).
But there’s more to her historic achievement. Her victory in the 800 freestyle by a margin of nearly 4½ seconds over the silver medalist, Li Bingjie of China (8:13.31), marks her as the first swimmer in history, male or female, to win the same event at six consecutive world championships.
Ledecky’s dominance in the 800 is so remarkable that she held the top 30 times ever recorded at that distance until recently, when Bingjie’s strong performance pushed her onto the list at the 30th spot.
In Japan, Ledecky humbly expressed her amazement at being part of such prestigious meets and achieving multiple world championships.
On a lighter note, she went as Katie Ledecky for Halloween, and now she swims relays with her fans and supporters.
Unlike her enthusiastic celebration following her victory in the 1,500 on Tuesday, where she recorded her fastest time in that distance in five years (15:26.27), Ledecky displayed a hint of disappointment at her winning time in the 800, which was slower than her time at last month’s U.S. nationals (8:07.07) and the 2022 worlds in Budapest (8:08.04).
She admitted, “I wanted to perform a little better, but I’ll take it.” As a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, she acknowledged that she probably started a bit too fast and felt the strain on the latter half. Nevertheless, she was determined to give her all in her final race and trusted her back half to hold strong.
Looking ahead, Ledecky’s sights are set on the Paris Olympics, where she is the clear favorite in both the 800 and 1,500 freestyles. She is also eager to challenge Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in the 400 free, an event where Titmus is the reigning Olympic and world champion.
Reflecting on the meet, Ledecky considers it a significant milestone in her journey, with improvements in all her events and a sense of progress in her training and racing. She looks forward to getting back to work with her coach Anthony Nesty at the University of Florida in just a couple of weeks.
Apart from Ledecky and Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom, who won her fifth consecutive world title in the 50-meter butterfly and set a world record of 23.61 seconds in the 50 free semifinals just 17 minutes later, the Australians shone throughout the meet.
The Aussies clinched three more golds on Saturday, thanks to Kaylee McKeown in the women’s 200 back, Cameron McEvoy in the men’s 50 free, and a world record-setting victory in the mixed 4×100 free relay, bringing their total gold medals to an impressive 13, more than three times the count of Team USA, which holds four (two thanks to Ledecky). Australian sprinter Mollie O’Callaghan emerged as the standout swimmer of the meet, claiming five gold medals, four of which were accompanied by world records.
O’Callaghan ecstatically shared, “It’s just been an amazing meet. We are on fire at the moment.”
