By: Tianhao Chen

With only 100 meters to go, fifteen-year-old Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh was only a second behind Katie Ledecky. Feeling nervous, Ledecky kicked fiercely, winning the 400m free with a time of 3 minutes and 58.15 seconds, the fourth fastest time she’s ever swam in her career. McIntosh, the swimmer who pushed Ledecky so hard, finished second with a time of 3:59.39, making her only the fourth female swimmer to swim under 4 minutes in the event.

While the race may have brought about the rise of a third contender for the 2024 Paris Olympics, it was missing Ariarne Titmus, Ledecky’s strong rival. Titmus, the event’s new world record holder, had beaten Ledecky’s record in May with a time of 3:56.40. Her reasoning for not being there? According to The New York Times, she felt she was not needed there and wanted to focus on the long term, which is the Olympic Games.

Who knows what might’ve happened if Titmus was there. She could’ve changed the dynamic of the race the same way she did during the Tokyo Olympics. Either way, this race gave Ledecky her 16th gold medal at the world championships, but what’s more important is that this was a personal-best during this 2021-2022 season even though she had no time goals.

“It’s the fastest I’ve ever been at worlds, so I’m really happy with that and really excited about the rest of the [meet],” Ledecky said. “I’m just always trying to improve … We kind of set out this year [without] setting any time goals, just trying to improve each meet, and so far I’ve done that, so that’s pretty good.”

Some believed this personal record was due to her motivation to regain her world record during the race on June 18th. However, she said there was no new motivation. “…I’m always motivated. I’m always excited to see what I can do. … If I didn’t have motivation before, that would’ve been a problem,” she said.

Now, her goal is to continue improving from this. Speaking on Summer and the upcoming Olympics, Ledecky said, “…Summer is now in the sub-four-minute club, so it’s only going to get harder these races. So I know I have my work cut out for me. It’s a good steppingstone here, to just kind of have a baseline for the next couple years moving [toward] Paris.”

Link to Article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/olympics/2022/06/18/katie-ledecky-400-free/