By: Claire Ying
On Saturday, Katie Ledecky, 25, claimed her 16th gold world championships medal at the Duna Arena in Budapest. Triumphing to the end of a 400-meter freestyle with a time of 3 minutes, 58.15 seconds, Ledecky outswam her new rival, 15-year-old Summer McIntosh (of Canada), with a time of 3 minutes, 59.39 second. This left American Leah Smith in bronze medal position with a time of 4 minutes, 2.08 seconds. Even with this astounding time, many hoped Ledecky would take back the world record from Ariarne Titmus of Australia, who was absent in Budapest, with a time of 3 minutes, 56.40 seconds, when she swam just last month at the Australian Swimming Championships.
The FINA world championships are held every 2 years and host only the most prominent athletes from each country. However, this year’s version lacks some of the top swimmers in the world. This includes the Russian and Belarusian athletes being banned from competing at all after the attacks on Ukraine, as well as others, including Ariarne Titmus and 200 breaststroke world record holder Tatjana Schoenmaker (of South Africa), who opted out to focus on personal matters. This did not stop Katie Ledecky and the rest of Team USA from coming back stronger.
Ledecky claims she had no intention of taking the world record back nor of a specific time, instead just hoping to improve on her own time. She did just that by swimming a personal best for the 2021-2022 season by more than a full second.
She told reporters in Budapest, “I wanted to push to the point of pain tonight,” adding, “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 …”
Of the 4 women who have ever swam the 400 freestyle under 4 minutes (the others being Titmus, Ledecky, and retired swimmer Federica Pellegrini (of Italy)), Summer McIntosh kept up best with Ledecky for the entirety of the race, pushing within 1 second of the phenom in the last 100 meters. In Budapest, Summer has also earned world junior records for the 200 meter butterfly and the 400 IM. It is safe to say the rematch for the 400 free at Paris 2024 between Titmus, Ledecky, and McIntosh, will be one worth watching out for.
In response to gaining a third contender in this event, Ledecky says, “I was a little nervous. [McIntosh] hung in there the whole time, so she definitely pushed me a lot,” followed with, “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.”
It is uncertain if Titmus would have defeated Ledecky again or if it would have been more motivating had Titmus been racing in the next lane over. Though Ledecky dismisses any accusations that Titmus would have been added motivation by stating, “a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, it must motivate you more.’ But 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.”
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