By: Xiu Sun
Last Saturday, Katie Ledecky won another gold medal in women’s 400-meter freestyle (3:58.15) in the opening event of the FINA world Championships at Duna Arena in Budapest. Her victory took place with the absence of Australian Ariarne Titmus who set a new world record (3:56.40) last month and the presence of a new rival, Canadian Summer McIntosh.
Ledecky, 25, became the greatest female distance swimmer in history with 16 gold medals at the world championships by focusing on the things that mattered most, not on her rivals, present or absent. Ledecky did not set specific time goals for the year and aimed only for improvement. By doing that, she achieved a personal-best time for the 2021-22 season by more than a full second.
“I wanted to push to the point of pain tonight,” Ledecky told 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.”
According to the Washington Post, Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh was a strong runner-up, pushing Ledecky throughout and earning the silver in 3:59.39, becoming just the fourth female in history to go under four minutes, along with Titmus, Ledecky and Italy’s Federica Pellegrini.
“I was a little nervous. [McIntosh] hung in there the whole time, so she definitely pushed me a lot,” 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.”
The 400 free at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which was presumed as a two-way battle for gold between Titmus and Ledecky, may become unpredictable with a third strong contender McIntosh.
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