Katie Ledecky 1500 World Record Interview: “I Wanted to End on a Good Note”

Swimming News / Swimming Video courtesy of Shannon Macdonald, SwimSwam World Rankings Managing Editor.

See Women’s 1500m Free World Swimming Rankings here, powered by TYR.

WOMEN’S 1500 FREE (FIRST HEAT)

Meet record: 15:55.01, Kate Ziegler (USA)
American record: 15:34.23, Katie Ledecky
Australian record: 16:01.53, Melissa Gorman
Canadian record: 16:07.73 Brittany Reimer
Japanese record: 15:58.55 Ai Shibata
Australia All-comers record: 15:53.05 Kate Ziegler (USA)

With her fifth World Record of the summer, Katie Ledecky drops six second to improve her World Record to 15:28.36! To put that in perspective, the world record at this time last year was still 15:42, and she would have finished 18th at the US National Championships in the men’s 1500 meter freestyle.

The silver medal went to Lauren Boyle of New Zealand at 15:55.69. Brittany Maclean of Canada claimed the bronze with her time of 15:57.15. Cierra Runge finished fourth at 16:04.48.

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Jim C
9 years ago

I would like to share my conversion formulas for elite women in the 400/800/1500 free LCM races.

Add 2% to lap times going from 400 to 800 and another 1% going from 800 to 1500.
Going backwards her 15:28.36 we get corresponding times of 8:10.22 for 800 and 4:00.31 for 400m. That would make this her fifth best swim after her 4 sub 4 minute 400s.

caliswimgrl
9 years ago

It’s great that this swim was accomplished in Australia, where the 1500 meter free has been a very admired event for a long time. Still hoping to see the whole race online somewhere… I am jealous of the fans who witnessed the race in person that day. So inspiring. Way to go Katie!

Jim C
9 years ago

I think people should take note of Ledecky’s comment that the 1500 is not a focus for her since it is not an Olympic event. Few women put much emphasis on such a long grueling race that is not an Olympic event.

Ledecky has taken about 14s off Ziegler’s 1500 WR and only 0.78s off Pellegrini’s 400 WR–but those figures are misleading. I have no doubt that her 400WR is better than her 1500WR.

About Gold Medal Mel Stewart

Gold Medal Mel Stewart

MEL STEWART Jr., aka Gold Medal Mel, won three Olympic medals at the 1992 Olympic Games. Mel's best event was the 200 butterfly. He is a former World, American, and NCAA Record holder in the 200 butterfly. As a writer/producer and sports columnist, Mel has contributed to Yahoo Sports, Universal Sports, …

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