Katie Ledecky Breaks Olympic Record in 400 Free Prelims

2016 RIO OLYMPIC GAMES

• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
• Swimming: August 6-13
• Olympic Aquatics Stadium, Barra Olympic Park, Rio de Janeiro
• Prelims – 9:00 a.m/12:00 p.m PST/EST (1:00 p.m local), Finals – 6:00 p.m/9:00 p.m PST/EST (10:00 p.m local)
• SwimSwam previews 
• Day 1 Schedule & Results
• Live Stream (NBC)

American swimmer Katie Ledecky has swum the second-fastest 400 meter freestyle in history and broken the Olympic Record with a 3:58.71. She was ahead of World Record pace at some moments in the swim, but wound up just off that pace by about three-tenths of a second, but did break the 4:01.45 Olympic Record set in 2012 by the late Frenchwoman Camille Muffat.

Muffat swam the race at the last Olympics in London before retiring very young and passing away in a helicopter accident in March of 2015.

While Ledecky has been the undeniable best in the world in this event over the last three years, she didn’t qualify to swim it at the 2012 Olympics.

With a four-second margin over the rest of the field in this 400 free, the World Record will be Ledecky’s biggest competition in the final. Here’s how her splits from the morning compared to her World Record swim of 3:58.37 from the 2014 Pan Pac Championships.

Comparative Splits (by 100):

• 100 – World Record (57.87), Prelims (58.20)
• 200 – World Record (1:00.43), Prelims (1:00.74)
• 300 – World Record (1:00.44), Prelims (1:00.17)
• 400 – World Record (59.63), Prelims (59.60)