By: Giovanni Ngai

On Saturday, July 29, 2023, in Fukuoka, Japan, 26-year-old American Katie Ladecky broke the record for most individual gold medals in the same event, passing the all-time swimmer Michael Phelps. She passed Phelps by winning seven consecutive gold medals in the 800-meter freestyle. Phelps is not a slow swimmer and is arguably one of the best swimmers in swimming history. So the fact that a swimmer just recently beat a record that has been held for a long time by an Olympian is an incredible feat since no one was as good as Michael in swimming.

Katie Ladecky’s 800-meter freestyle time was 8 minutes and 8.87 seconds, which was not even her fastest time. “I’m just always trying to think of new ways to improve. I mean I’ve already got everything turning in my head right now. I kind of wanted to be better than I was tonight,” Katie said (The Associated Press). This shows that even Katie, who holds the world record for the fastest 800-meter freestyle, is still trying to improve in any way possible. Katie Ladecky’s 800-meter freestyle time of 8 minutes and 8.87 seconds is probably as fast as I jog 800 meters.

Katie not only has the 800-meter freestyle record, but she also has the 1500-meter freestyle record, which she broke on October 31, 2022, in the Swimming World Cup in Toronto. The time she got was 15 minutes and 8.24 seconds, which was nearly 10 seconds faster than the previous record of 15 minutes and 18.01 seconds held by Sarah (Kolher) Wellbrock in 2019. Katie quoted, “I knew that that record was in reach” (Ayana Archie), showing how confident she was in herself. “So I felt locked into a pace and … held it together enough to get the job done.” Katie expressed. That is what every swimmer should have in mind: determination. Katie has that, which earned her the 1500-meter freestyle record.

The achievement Katie has may not be understood by most people, as they might not understand all the hard work that goes into even being able to swim an 800 or 1500 meter freestyle. For reference, an 800 is about half a mile long, and a 1500 is about a mile long. Just imagine swimming for a mile. That just goes to show how this achievement will be one that will always be remembered in the swimming world.

Link: https://eb18600f7bb2916037f5ee8e636ce199.cdn.bubble.io/f1690731256966x362573436557538600/Katie%20Ledecky%20passes%20Michael%20Phelps%20for%20most%20individual%20golds%20at%20world%20champions%20_%20NPR.pdf

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/31/1132768433/katie-ledecky-world-record-1500