Disclaimer: BlueSeventy Swim of the Week is not meant to be a conclusive selection of the best overall swim of the week, but rather one Featured Swim to be explored in deeper detail. The BlueSeventy Swim is an opportunity to take a closer look at the context of one of the many fast swims this week, perhaps a swim that slipped through the cracks as others grabbed the headlines, or a race we didn’t get to examine as closely in the flood of weekly meets.
Last season, Katie Ledecky ended the collegiate year losing the Pac-12 200 free title to teammate Simone Manuel, then falling into a surprise tie for the NCAA title with Mallory Comerford. Then, over the summer, Ledecky suffered the first international loss of her stellar career, dropping the 200 free to Federica Pellegrini at Worlds.
Then last week, she had to watch as Comerford blasted a 1:41.70 to rise to the top of the early NCAA standings.
The 200 free is really the only event where anyone can challenge Ledecky at this point. So it’s no surprise the ultra-competitive Stanford Cardinal found a way to take over the top time in the NCAA this season with a 1:41.60 at the U.S. College Challenge.
Ledecky is all but untouchable in the 500 free (she went 4:28.75 this weekend; no one in history has been faster than 4:28.9) and the 1000 free (she was 9:11.68; no one else has broken 9:20 since 2007). The 400 IM is still a fan’s pipe dream at this point, leaving the 200 free as Ledecky’s most challenging event entering her sophomore year. Based on the early returns, Ledecky is putting a premium on remaining one step ahead of Comerford & co. this time around.
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She may have lost a race or two, but never since she was 15 has she lost the “throne”. She and Helen Maroulis are tied for badassery.
Oh really the only event?
Do you see anybody challenging her in the 500 or 1000/1650?
I think uberfan is referring to the non-free strokes, the IMs, and the shorter freestyles.
Ledecky’s not going to swim those events, so it’s accurate to say nobody can challenge her there. If we’re being pedantic, we should also add that she’s beatable in platform diving and the 400 meter hurdles.
Awesome response, Jared, you made me literally LOL! 😉
Yeah in everything distance she is unstoppable even the 400 IM Eastin is the only one ahead and that’s barely like .11 barely
And Eastin was tapered for NC2A’s on top of that, Katie L swam it at Pac 12’s.
“she had to watch as Comerford blasted a 1:41.70 to rise to the top of the early NCAA standings” and somehow found out 7 out of 8 Swimswam staffs predicted Comerford will win instead of her.
Shs showed in the interview in LA that she had a great attitude. She is always the champion.