USA Swimming is preparing for the 2015 Golden Goggles Awards and are beginning to release the nominees for the 2015 Awards. The Golden Goggles Awards are presented by the USA Swimming Foundation every year to celebrate the top swimmers and coaches’ achievements over the last year.
There are eight categories: Breakout Performer of the Year, Coach of the Year, Perseverance Award, Relay Performance of the Year, Male Performance of the Year, Female Performance of the Year, Male Athlete of the Year, and Female Athlete of the Year.
USA Swimming announced that Haley Anderson‘s 5K, Katie Ledecky‘s 200 free, Ledecky’s 800 free and Ledecky’s 1500 free are the nominees for the 2015 Female Race of the Year award. This award is given to the female swimmer with the greatest single individual race of the year, with special emphasis on the 2015 FINA World Championships.
HALEY ANDERSON – 5K OPEN WATER – 2015 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – Haley Anderson secured her second straight gold medal in the 5-kilometer open water race at the 2015 FINA World Championships. Keeping pace with the pack the entire race, Anderson turned on the jets and surged to the lead in the final meters to edge out her opponents with a time of 58:48.4, just over a second clear of the runner-up. Anderson, who also won the 5K world title in 2013, has reached the podium at four straight major international competitions dating to the 2012 Olympic Games.
KATIE LEDECKY – 200M FREE – 2015 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – In search of her third gold medal at the 2015 FINA World Championships, Katie Ledecky came through in the clutch with a come-from-behind victory in the women’s 200m free. Ledecky, who was in fourth place at the 100-meter mark, surged her way to second place at the final turn. Over the final 50 meters, she held off a hard-charging Federica Pellegrini of Italy, the world-record holder in the event, to touch in 1:55.16 – just 0.16 seconds ahead of Pellegrini. Her swim scored 944 points on the FINA Points Table.
KATIE LEDECKY – 800M FREE – 2015 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS – Katie Ledecky turned in a dominant performance in the women’s 800m free at the 2015 FINA World Championships to earn her fifth and final gold medal in Kazan. The Bethesda, Md., native cruised to a world-record time of 8:07.39, which was 3.61 seconds faster than her previous record of 8:11.00. Ledecky jumped out to a quick lead with an opening 50m spilt of 28.63 and never looked back, swimming ahead of world-record pace the entire race. Ledecky’s final 50 was her fastest of the race (28.41), and she touched 10 seconds clear of the field to become the first swimmer to win the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events at the same FINA World Championships.
KATIE LEDECKY – 1500M FREE – 2015 FINA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
After setting the world record in the 1500m free prelims, Katie Ledecky turned her attention to finals and did not disappoint. Ledecky shattered her own record with a time of 15:25.48 and took home the second of five gold medals of the meet. Much like her dominant performance in the 800m free, Ledecky raced her way to an early lead and continued to separate herself from the pack. By the first turn, Ledecky was already a body length ahead and by 1,000 meters, she was 2.32 seconds under of world record pace. Swimming a nearly even pace throughout the event, Ledecky finished nearly 15 seconds ahead of the field.
Online voting for the 2015 Golden Goggles awards is open here.
Without any doubt, I vote for the 800 free.
That’s a perfect race from the start to the finish.
Her last 50 are insane.
She tried for a long time to break 8.10 and put the world record at the same level as the 400 free and the 1500 free.
She did it in her last race of the week in an amazing fashion.
8.07! I can’t still believe it!
Talk about splitting votes…
Imagine she swam an Open Water 5K somewhere and beat Anderson’s time…would she have all 4 nominations then??
I remember last year there was some debate about how much splitting votes would have an impact. In Ledecky’s case, I don’t think it will cost her, but I wonder if it will cost Phelps this year. As I write this, Phelps has the most votes for Race of the Year on USA Swimming website, but Lochte is leading the vote because votes for Phelps are split between two races.
Haha! If Lochte wins, that’s hilarious! 😆
Common sense in the voting would be to add all those for Phelps as one and then which event was the highest. You don’t vote for Co Captains by giving each swimmer one vote. You vote for two so each person got a voice on both choices. Sure hope common sense prevails.
Just another testament to Katie’s greatness:
1) Her 400 this year, her third swim to go under Pellegrini’s old WR, gets no nomination and was actually considered a bit disappointing by some. I don’t think it even received an individual Swimswam writeup after it happened. Also, she didn’t receive a golden google last year for either of her WR breaking 400 swims. And that’s because …
2) … She did receive last year’s golden goggle for her Pan Pacs 1500 (if I’m remembering correctly), a swim that Frank Busch called the best he’s seen in 50 years. Then THIS year she breaks that PanPacs mark almost casually in the prelims and breaks it again in the finals before her… Read more »
I bet the 200 was Katie’s favorite race of the year, but this award is going to to her 800 swim. She obliterated that record. She’s 7 seconds faster than anyone in history in an Olympic event. Mind boggling.
That said, if it were entirely up to me, I would pick the 1500 WR simple because of this: She swam the last 800 meters of the race in a time of 8:14.10, which is EXACTLY the same time as the fastest ever 800 meter time of any woman not named Katie Ledecky (Addlington, 2008). Just think about that. She exerts herself at a world record pace for 700 meters, and THEN matches the second best 800 meter swimmer in… Read more »
It really is hard to decide between these 3 races of hers because has something that makes it unique.The 1500 is unique because she broke the WR twice, once without even trying- amazing! The 800 (my personal favorite of the meet) she DEMOLISHED her own world record with an absolute mind boggling time, and it was her last race of the meet!!!! Finally her 200 was probably the best- true to definition- race of the bunch. It was a stacked field and she snuck in for the win and accomplish something no one else has ever done!
Truly a tough call. I think the 200 is the obvious choice because of “underdog” factor and that no one else has swept… Read more »