Now 25 but getting faster, Katie Ledecky still reaching for another wall
Ten years ago, Ledecky’s feat was unprecedented for someone so young. These days — six more Olympic gold medals, three coaches, two cross-country moves and one Stanford degree since — she is doing things unheard-of for someone so old.
and marking the first time one of Ledecky’s world records had been lowered by someone other than herself. “It was a really great swim. And I’d say I was not surprised to see it. She’s been very close in the past, and she was having a really great meet leading up to that event,” Ledecky said of Titmus, who last summer in Tokyo became the first woman to beat Ledecky in an Olympic final, edging her for gold in the 400. “My hat goes off to her for that swim. I know what it takes to go 3:56.
Just after the Tokyo Olympics — where she won the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyles, the sixth and seventh golds of her Olympic career, and added silvers in the 400 free and 4x200 free relay — Ledecky began contemplating leaving Stanford, whereShe chose the University of Florida and Coach Anthony Nesty largely because the Gators boasted the deepest and most elite group of male middle-distance and distance swimmers in the world — a roster led by Bobby Finke, gold medalist in the 800 and 1,500...
Even before she makes her first swim at world championships, Ledecky’s move clearly has paid off. At April’s U.S. world championship trials in Indianapolis, Ledecky’s times in all four individual events — the 200, 400, 800 and 1,500 frees — were significantly faster than her corresponding times at the 2021 U.S. Olympic trials. In the case of the 800, Ledecky’s signature event and one in which she has taken gold at every Olympics and world championships for the past decade, her time of 8:09.