Ledecky sets Olympic record in 1500m freestyle
NANTERRE, France — American swimmer Katie Ledecky comfortably won an event that has become synonymous with her name, winning her first Olympic gold medal Wednesday at the Paris Games in the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle.
Ledecky set an Olympic record with a time of 15:30.02.
She hasn’t lost this race in over 14 years and holds the 20 fastest times in world history in this event. It is, for all intents and purposes, only a real race for silver. France’s Anastasiia Kirpichnikova won in 15:40.35, while Germany’s Isabel Gose won bronze in 15:41.16.
Simply the best. 🙌
Katie Ledecky adds another gold medal to her legendary career achievements.#Olympic Games in Paris | 📺 NBC and Peacock photo.twitter.com/skbxzj1CAj
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024
The Olympic gold medal is Ledecky’s eighth, tied with Jenny Thompson for most American women. Many would call Ledecky the greatest swimmer in the history of the sport, but she also makes a strong case for the greatest female Olympian ever.
Ledecky needs one more gold medal to equal Russian gymnast Larisa Latynina for the most gold medals for female athletes at the Olympics.
Ledecky, 27, has won 12 Olympic medals in four Games and gets a chance to add to that later this week in the women’s 800-meter freestyle (where she is again the favorite) and as part of the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
The Paris Olympics will be only the second Games to feature the women’s 1500m freestyle. Ledecky was open earlier in her career about her desire to swim the event — which has long been part of world championships — at the Olympics. It’s fitting, of course, that she’s the only woman to win it to date. Her name is part of that piece of history.
“It’s often said that distance swimming requires an unbearable, mind-numbing boredom that few other athletes experience,” Ledecky wrote in her memoir. “Hour after hour, day after day, for months, years, decades, distance swimmers stare at the dark line that marks the bottom of the pool, following and tracing it as we bob back and forth in our muted bubble of virtual silence, haunted by a loop of our deepest thoughts, our bodies screaming in agony from the stress of pushing ourselves to our limits. For me, this is a random Saturday.
“I’m joking, of course. I’ve never considered my chosen sport to be a source of pain. Swimming is a joy for me, even when — or perhaps especially when — it tests my limits. That said, I’m not here to argue with the common perception that long-distance swimming can be a rape of the body and mind. It absolutely can.”
Ledecky has said she plans to swim at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, a stance she reiterated Wednesday night.
“I don’t feel like I’m done with the sport yet,” Ledecky said. “After seeing the support that the French athletes get here, I think all the American athletes are thinking how cool it would be in Los Angeles, with a home crowd. That would be awesome.”
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Plus, Ledecky has always loved distance swimming and will continue to do so. She trains with coach Anthony Nesty and the University of Florida men’s distance swimmers, and she got emotional earlier this week after winning a bronze medal in the women’s 400-meter freestyle and discussed how much that training group has meant to her as a swimmer and as a person.
On Wednesday, though, there were no tears, just smiles and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Ledecky had won gold in her most dominant event in the most dominant way, and all was well in the pool.
Required reading
(Photo: Sarah Stier / Getty Images; Graphics: John Bradford / The Athletics)
