Katie Ledecky in Response to American Record: “I think all times should count”

2019 INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING LEAGUE: GROUP A, MATCH 1

Editor’s note: Lededcky’s time, presuming it meets all other standards for ratification, will count as an American Record, USA Swimming has confirmed. FINA has said that they will not recognize ISL swims as World Records.

Reported by Anne Lepesant.

WOMEN’S 400 FREE

Katie Ledecky took it out first from lane 7, trying to put clear water behind her from the outset. Ariarne Titmus, who upset Ledecky at Worlds this summer, led the rest of the field but trailed Ledecky by a full body at the 200. Titmus had come back on Ledecky in Gwangju, so this time Ledecky wasn’t giving anyone a chance. She ended up winning by 3.6 seconds with 3:54.06, giving valuable points to DC Trident and pulling the team into 3rd place. Titmus placed 2nd in 3:57.61, 2.2 seconds ahead of her Cali Condors teammate, Hali FlickingerSarah Kohler scored points for Aqua Centurions with her fourth-place finish. She was 4 full seconds ahead of DC Trident’s Leah Neale.

Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus, representing the DC Trident and Cali Condors, respectively, faced off in a rematch in the women’s 400 freestyle, where Ledecky, who might be called a “novice” in SCM competition where she holds no notable records, blasted a 3:54.06 to win by multiple body-lengths and finish just .14 off Titmus’ 2018 World Record in the SCM version of this event. FINA has stated that it will ignore times posted in ISL competition, an assertion which will now be put to the test, as Ledecky destroyed Katie Hoff’s 2010 American Record, which previously–or perhaps still stands–at a 3:57.07.

Jack-of-all-trades Hali Flickinger, swimming for the Condors, placed 3rd for 6 points, bringing the Condors total points in this race to 13, an equal team result for the Condors than DC Trident, despite Ledecky’s incredible swim, as the Trident’s second swimmer, Leah Neale, placed 5th for and equal 13 points.

In This Story

47
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

47 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
cbswims
4 years ago

Can we start Announcing like like boxing belts? “Coming in at lane 5 the holder of ISL, USA, FINA unified records, the undisputed champion…. Alex Trebek”

Wild Bill
4 years ago

Go Katie Go!

Jo Bloggs
4 years ago

ISL records should be separate like Olympic records. Its a league and that should remain independent from FINA.

beachmouse
4 years ago

Given how a lot of sponsor and federation contracts have performance bonuses tied to world records, this is the kind of thing that could get them sued in one of those athlete-friendly European courts as long as FINA’s published recognition checklist is followed. Especially since FINA has been willing to ratify ‘surprise’ world records before like Ledecky at the Texas Senior Circuit a while back as long as drug testing was done in the appropriate time window.

Admin
Reply to  beachmouse
4 years ago

FINA has said that they will recognize ISL results and records if FINA protocols are followed. The approval of a meet 6 months prior is the one that’s going to be the hangup, I presume.

CT Swim Fan
4 years ago

FINA just looks petty with their attitude about this.

ISLfan
4 years ago

note to FINA … get over yourselves.

DEAN IS GOD
4 years ago

Please someone make an “isl world record” list so we don’t have to deal with fina

Admin
Reply to  DEAN IS GOD
4 years ago

There’s an important subtext here about FINA vs. ISL and “records”: ISL doesn’t really believe in them. Grigorishin has put out a big manifesto about how records make swimmers like “science experiments.” You can see it in their press: Ledecky’s American Record and near World Record was buried in the last sentence of the article.

Wowswim
4 years ago

Go against the biggest active swimmer good move FINA

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

Read More »