Medals
4
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1
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Schedule & results
Women's 200m freestyle
Final
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Completed
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1:53.73
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Women's 4x200m freestyle relay
Heats
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Completed
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Women's 4x200m freestyle relay
Final
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Completed
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7:43.03
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Women's 800m freestyle
Heats
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Completed
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8:12.86
OR
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Women's 800m freestyle
Final
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Completed
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8:04.79
WR
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BACKGROUND
Two world records, four world championships, one Olympic gold. All before she passed her driver’s license test. Born in Washington, D.C. in 1997, Kathleen Ledecky (Katie, for short) did not waste much time before beginning her already-legendary swimming career. She started swimming at age 6, following in her older brother Michael’s footsteps.
Ledecky lives with her parents in Bethesda, Maryland and attended Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart. She continues to train with her original club, Nation’s Capital Swim Club. She was first coached by Yuri Suguiyama, but moved under Coach Bruce Gemmell.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
2012 U.S. Olympic Trials
Ledecky exploded onto the U.S. swimming scene in 2012 at the Olympic Trials, where she was the youngest swimmer at the meet. She quickly claimed her spot in the future of American swimming by winning the 800 freestyle and finishing third in the 400 and ninth in the 200.
2012 Olympic Games
A few weeks later, she surprised her country and the world with a gold medal finish in the 800 freestyle at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, solidifying her place on the international stage. Her time of 8:14.63 was scarily close to the World Record and broke Janet Evans’ long-standing American Record of 8:16.22.
2013 FINA World Championships
Ledecky returned to school and continued to train at NCAP with coach Bruce Gemmell. After countless splits and times that danced around world record paces, Ledecky made her move at the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona. She set world records in both the 800 and 1500 freestyles and an American record in the 400.
In the 1500, she shaved nearly six seconds off of Kate Ziegler’s previous world record in a hard-fought battle against Denmark’s Lotte Friis. Ledecky also made her international relay debut in Barcelona and won gold in the 4×200 freestyle relay with teammates Shannon Vreeland, Karlee Bispo and Missy Franklin. The 2013 FINA Female Swimmer of the Meet has certainly proven herself as a crucial part of the future of American swimming.
2015 World Championships
At the 2015 World Championships in Kazan Ledecky faced a lot of pressure going off of her recent successes. Her first swim of the meet was in the 400 free, and as the reigning world record holder, it was hard to imagine anyone but Katie taking the gold. She took out the race hard, swimming he first 200 split in under 1:58, and she held on for the win. Although she didn’t break her World Record mark, she set the tone for the meet.
At the 2015 World Championships in Kazan Ledecky faced a lot of pressure going off of her recent successes. Her first swim of the meet was in the 400 free, and as the reigning world record holder, it was hard to imagine anyone but Katie taking the gold. She took out the race hard, swimming he first 200 split in under 1:58, and she held on for the win. Although she didn’t break her World Record mark, she set the tone for the meet.
Her next event came in the 1500 free, when she set her first World Record of the meet in the prelim of the 1500 free. The following day in the final, Ledecky dropped her World Record by another two seconds and finished ahead of the runner-up, Lauren Boyle, by 15 seconds and finished when much of the field was turning for their last 50.
She also picked up another gold medal in the 200 free, an event she isn’t as widely known for, but probably her event with the most improvement. Ledecky was placed on the U.S. 800m free relay, which she swam the anchor leg. Along with her American teammates, Missy Franklin, Leah Smith and Katie McLaughlin, Ledecky pulled ahead of record-pace Sweden, and eventually touched for a gold medal.
Ledecky returned for the final of her fourth individual event — the 800 free. This time around Ledecky crushed her 800 World Record mark she set in 2014, reducing the record by nearly four seconds. She finished 10 seconds ahead of the second finisher in the field. Her split at the 400-meter mark was good for a second place finish, behind only herself, in the 400 event.
2016
Katie Ledecky starts the Olympic year off with a bang! Coming down from altitude training for the 2016 Pro Swim Series at Austin, broke the World Record in the women’s 800 meter freestyle on Sunday swimming an 8:06.68.
COLLEGE
Stanford University
One of 2014’s top recruits, Ledecky committed to the Cardinal; however, she will enroll at Stanford University in 2016 instead of 2015. Ledecky, similar to Abby Weitzel’s deferment to Cal, chose to defer a year to focus on the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
2016 US Olympic Trials
Ledecky made her second Olympic Team by winning the 400M Freestyle with a time of 3:58.98. She made her near record swim look easy beating second place finisher, Leah Smith by just 1.67 seconds, a slim margin compared to most of her races.
It is no surprise that Ledecky made the Olympic Team in a second event, the surprise is that she won the 200M Free. Before this year, that may not have been a reality, but Ledecky added that event to her repertoire. and proved she is the US Freestyle Queen – reigning supreme in the 200 and 400 at the Trials.
Ledecky won her third event, winning the 800M Free with a time of 8:10.32, outdistancing second place finisher by almost 10 full seconds.
Ledecky is the Freestyle Queen, winning the 200M – 400M and 800M Freestyles, and even placing in the 100M Free.
2016 Rio Olympics
Surprisingly, Ledecky was named to the US 4x100M Freestyle Relay for the preliminary heats and turned in the fastest split for the US Women, therefore giving her a spot on team swimming at finals. The US Women finished behind the favored Australians to win the silver medal with the Ledecky anchoring the foursome.
However, not surprisingly, Ledecky won the 400M freestyle. The blazing fast time of 3:56.46 shattered her previous world record, and was almost five full seconds ahead of second place finisher, Jasmin Carlin.
Gold Medal in the 200M Free! The Queen of distance went out from the start, took the lead around the 60 Meter mark and never relinquished it. She finished three tenths of a second in front of silver medalist, Sarah Sjostrom.
Ledecky has said that she treats every race as if it is a sprint, during the 800M Free, that was never more evident. Her time of 8:04.79 not only broke the World Record by almost two seconds, but was also over 11 seconds ahead of second place finisher, Jazmin Carlin of Great Britain. By the time Ledecky was finishing, she was a full 25 Meters ahead of some other swimmers in her heat, all of whom swam to a spot in the finals and are considered amongst the best in the world. Amazing is not strong enough to describe how fast and good Ledecky’s Olympic Results showed.
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