6 Things We Noticed at 2014 Pan Pacs: Ledecky Goes to 10-for-10 Internationally

There was plenty to notice on the final day of the 2014 Pan Pac Championships in Australia, but to start, we noticed something a step beyond what the whole world noticed: Katie Ledecky’s record-breaking 1500 meter freestyle swim at the 2014 Pan Pac Championships.

We noticed it as a gold medal as much as a World Record, and here’s why: If we’re focusing exclusively on USA Swimming’s “operation gold meets,” which most world-class swimmers are, (1) Ledecky has never lost a gold medal at a major meet. In fact, that 1500 meter free swim was her 10th gold medal in these major international competitions, going along with 1 at the 2012 Olympics, four at the 2013 World Championships, and now five at Pan Pacs.

This is reminiscent of the major champions who just don’t lose on the biggest stages. Michael Jordan, for example, never lost in an NBA finals. Natalie Coughlin has medal’ed in every Olympic event she’s entered. She’s never even been 2nd in a heat at this level of competition.

(2) We’re sure a lot of you noticed this too, but when Ryan Lochte won the B-Final of the men’s 200 IM on Sunday, he tied the 1:56.02 done by Japan’s Kosuke Hagino to win the A-Final. That would’ve been a heck of a race if the two of them, plus a Michael Phelps 1:56.04, were all head-to-head, especially given how different their splitting was: Hagino finished in 27.82, Lochte in 28.53, and Phelps in 27.18 to all wind up with virtually the same time. Lochte and Phelps are the two entitled to represent the U.S. at Worlds next year.

(3) In the women’s 50 free, Cate Campbell both broke the Australian record and tied the Commonwealth Record with a 23.96 in the women’s 50 free.

Her reaction time off the blocks though was just .76, and while reaction time doesn’t always show the full story of a start, it’s something she can improve on. She was fairly slow on her reaction time in the 400 medley relay anchor as well, though that’s a whole different start.

(4) Bruno Fratus’ 22.10 in prelims of the men’s 50 free was a little sketchy. Though it was plenty for him to make the final, it wasn’t what most had hoped after he spent the year training at Auburn with Brett Hawke. He bounced back in a big way in the final, however, with a 21.44 to break the Pan Pacs Record of 21.55 set by Nathan Adrian in 2010.

(5) His country mate Marcelo Chierighini, on the other hand, did not turn things around in finals, going just a 22.46 for 8th place. He’s had a tough year including at NCAA’s and Maria Lenk. Chierighini was a late-comer to the elite levels of swimming, not taking it seriously until around 17, and while his improvements came in a hurry, this has been his first season of adversity. Brazil needs him to bounce back if they want to finally get Cesar Cielo that elusive relay medal in Rio in front of a home crowd.

(6) And finally, we’ll focus in on the Canadian bronze-medal winning 400 medley relay. The group of Brooklynn Snodgrass, Kierra Smith, Katerine Savard, and Chantal van Landeghem are all 20 or 21 years old and swam to a 3:59.85. They beat the Japanese relay that was 5th at Worlds last year, which both demonstrated how much the loss of Aya Terakawa on the backstroke leg to retirement hurt Japan, and how promising this Canadian relay is. They haven’t broken the National Record yet (that was done in 2009 at Worlds in suits), but this relay certainly has the potential to get there. Three of the four swimmers are training in the United States at the NCAA level, and while Snodgrass and Smith are better over 200 meters, both are showing clear progress in their sprinting.

This Canadian relay in Rio, if things continue to progress, could also challenge for a medal  – and even being in that conversation will be a spark for Canada.