By: Ella Wang

On June 18, 2022, Katie Ledecky claimed victory in the women’s 400-meter freestyle swims at the 2022 FINA World Championships. Although her biggest rival, Arniare Titmus, was absent during this meet, Ledecky was still able to face off against another promising talent who had proven her potential.

Katie Ledecky, the greatest female swimmer in history, claimed her 16th gold medal at World Championships.

However, even with the time of 3 minutes 58.15, Ledecky could not catch her biggest rival, Ariarne Titmus, with a time of 3 minutes 56.40, continuing to hold the world record. However, this year Ledecky was only aiming for the improvement with no time goals.

“I wanted to push to the point of pain tonight,” Ledecky told the reporters in Budapest. “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]. 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.”

Although Ledecky won gold, a young, talented swimmer has just started her career. Just one second behind was 15-year-old Summer McIntosh with a time of 3 minutes 59.39, claiming silver. McIntosh became the fourth female in history to swim under 4 minutes, following after Titmus, Ledecky, and Pellegrini.

“I was a little nervous. [McIntosh] hung in there the whole time, so she definitely pushed me a lot,” Ledecky said in an article in The Washington Post. “… 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 stepping stone here, to just kind of have a baseline for the next couple years moving [toward] Paris.”

In third place, Leah Smith took the bronze medal, clocking 4 minutes 02.08. This marks the 7th World Championships medal of her career.

It may be true that if Titmus chose to participate in the World Championships, things might have been different, but there’s no doubt that Ledecky has yet again made history and is certainly the greatest female swimmer of all time. Katie Ledecky will only get stronger after every meet and is motivated to retake the world record.

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