Only seven days after Katie Ledecky broke the National High School record in the 200 freestyle at the WMPSSDL Championships, she lowers the national record again, posting a time of 1:41.55 at the Metro DC Championships.
Last weekend, she became the fifth fastest performer all-time in the 200 free with her time of 1:41.82. Her drop tonight to 1:41.55 moves her ahead of Olympic Champion Natalie Coughlin in the all-time rankings, making Ledecky the fourth fastest performer in this event. She is now only .02 seconds behind Dana Vollmer’s best time of 1:41.53. The American record and 17-18 NAG record belongs to Missy Franklin with her time from the 2014 NCAA Championships.
TOP FIVE PERFORMERS ALL TIME:
Missy Franklin – 1:40.31 – March 2014 – NCAA’s
Megan Romano – 1:41.21 – March 2012 – NCAA’s
Dana Vollmer – 1:41.53r – March 2009 – Pac 10 Championships
Katie Ledecky – 1:41.55 – February 2015 – Metro DC Championships
Natalie Coughlin – 1:41.66 – January 2007 – Long Beach Grand Prix
This is Katie Ledecky’s last high school meet of her career. During prelims, she broke the American Record in the 500 freestyle with her time of 4:26.57. It is unlikely she will challenge that time again during finals. Last year she she was just as agressive during prelims, and then chose to conserve energy during finals and focus on her other events and relays during finals.
Splits were unavailable at the time of publication.
Hats off to Katie Ledecky for another monster weekend of performances!
1.41
4.26/4.27
WOW!
I hope she now takes a few days of rest before having a long period of training until Mesa Grand Prix in April.
Big up to Katie for ending her HS career with a bang. Outstanding!
Also- respect to Bobo for calling it. Made good points in your analysis, tho I still think KL will take down the 200 free records sooner than later. SCY will be tough just because she doesn’t focus on that discipline very much (unless she goes to the NCAA, which I’m not so sure will happen) and, as Bobo mentioned, xtra turns involved, but think she will get the 200 LC AR in the next year. When she gets a bit stronger will nab the suit assisted WR too, tho that is a tough one. Still an impressive swim in the 2 today for a partial taper only,… Read more »
Thanks but it would have been cool if she broke it.
But I really thought that wasn’t possible. First I think she wasn’t fully tapered. Second, the 200 free in yards is well different. That’s almost a sprint. Megan Romano or Natalie Coughlin have swum 1.41 too. It means something. Third, Missy has put that American record at a very very very very very very high level in 1.40.31. You need someone who can swim 47 low or better in the 100 free to break that record in my opinion. Katie swims 48 low for the moment. I find her stroke a little hurried in that event. That’s not as properly as what she does in the 500 free.… Read more »
Easyspeed, you took another risk here with your LCM 200 free prediction! 🙂
It looks like you are a hothead! 😆
Katie Ledecky will break next year the LCM 200 free American record.
Well, at first sight, I would say I disagree.
But with a little more reflection, I wouldn’t say that’s impossible.
With no 1500 free next year in her line-up, she will focus a lot on the 200 free. She knows she still has a lot to learn about that event if she wants to beat Missy Franklin or Sarah Sjöström in Rio. She knows she must continue to take power and especially gain that easy speed which is the key for every… Read more »
Regrettably, Sarah Sjostrom will hardly swim the 200 free in Rio: http://www.swimvortex.com/why-sarah-sjostrom-is-unlikely-to-be-seen-on-the-blocks-for-rio-2016-200-free/
Michael Phelps gained so much from the turns and underwater when he broke 200 free WR in 2007, not from easy speed.
Phelps started lifting weights for the first time before the 2007 worlds. Before that he did strength training but not actual lifting. That made a difference, along with other factors such as his endurance and speed training, under-waters, etc. Not sure how much strength training KL does at the moment, but when she gets older she will probably do more.
BOBO: good analysis. I agree with what you said re: Katie’s apparent lack of a strategy/ inexperience with the event. The 200 free is very tricky; it is sort of like a controlled sprint. Also, we know she wasn’t fully tapered because she was racing the weekend before which, of course, with a full taper you would never do. Still an amazing performance by her!
I very much doubt Ledecky will break 200 LCM WR. You can embarrass and quote me if she breaks it.
The difference between Missy’s 200 SCY and Ledecky’s isn’t the turns. Katie actually has significantly better walls that Missy, and Katie’s were amongst the best of all the 200 Free finalists at Pan Pacs this year. The difference, like Bobo said, is just Missy’s raw power. That is one of the thing that I think will develop well under Meehan.
Hats off to Bobo–another accurate prediction for the 200 free.
Please stop that!
Some swimswam readers are going to think you are someone from my family. 😆
Seriously for once that one of my predictions happens.
I will try world championships predictions in the coming days.
Am I wrong or her last 50 from the 500 was faster?
You’re correct. Her last 50 was a 25.95
Happened with Sun Yang at London, as well. His last 50 of the 1500m was absurdly fast, faster than his or any other finalists last 50 of the 200m free.
I wonder, does this mean she could have gone faster? I tend to agree with what Bobo says in one of his posts below, that right now she is incredibly efficient in longer distances while her stroke falls a bit apart in the 200. Perhaps she is one of those swimmers who can go at an incredible speed for 800 metres but really not much faster in sprints.
Are you kidding me?
For a distance-focused swimmer, she’s incredibly very very fast in sprint too.
She’s now 54.something in 100 and 1:55 in 200.
Ledecky is a very rare distance swimmer who can swim extremely fast in shorter distances. Not many swimmers can do that. The last swimmers who held both 200 and 800 WRs at the same time were Shane Gould and Ian Thorpe. And Ledecky is getting faster and faster and may possibly break the textile 200 free WR by Alison Schmitt in the next few years.
Many distance swimmers are capable of swimming as fast in their last 50 in distance events as they are in shorter distances, as explained above. Another example: Rebecca… Read more »
There will be much better video from others later, but if you’re itching to see the race now and can forgive the terrible camera angle and hand-held shakes, here’s the race:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38BDrJxa-uw&feature=youtu.be
Splits:
23.96
49.45 (25.49)
1:15.49 (26.04)
1:41.55 (26.06)
49.45 – 52.10