Katie Ledecky, Leah Smith Shine in First Long Course Races With New Programs

2021 US OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Wednesday, December 1 – Saturday, December 4, 2021
• Greensboro Aquatic Center, Greensboro, NC
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Info
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheets
• Live Results (Omega)
• Day 1 full live recap

A collective sigh of relief was blown by American swimming fans on Wednesday when Katie Ledecky swam her first long course race since going to train at the University of Florida under Anthony Nesty.

She swam 8:12.81 to win the 800 free. That time is just .24 seconds slower than she swam at the Olympic Games in July, where she won one of a pair of two gold medals at those Games.

While an 8:12 at the Olympics was slower than most would have hoped or expected for the fastest-ever 800 freestyler, an 8:12 in December is rather exciting.

Ledecky now has the 24 fastest times in history in the 800 free. Only Ariarne Titmus’ 8:13.83, the silver medal time from the Olympics, stands in the way of her owning the entire top 25.

“It was great,” Ledecky said of her swim. “Just wanted to get the first swim of the season out of the way. Felt good going into it and thought I’d have a pretty good swim.”

For comparison, and in a COVID year comparisons always have an asterisk, she swam 8:14.59 a year ago at the U.S. Open.

“I’m excited about the new quad – Feeling really good about my new training environment and getting to train with some really great mid-distance and distance swimmers that are racing tonight,” Ledecky said. “I’m just happy to start seeing the work pay off.”

It really isn’t a surprise that it’s working, at least on a micro scale. Katie Ledecky isn’t a doe-eyed teenager who made this move, and Anthony Nesty isn’t an untested coach. Ledecky knows what she needs, she’s a pro, she’s one of the most accomplished and decorated swimmers in history. Nesty knows how to train distance swimmers, but he’s also a smart enough and seasoned enough coach that he’s not going to steamroll an athlete as good – or as smart – as Ledecky, if she feels the training needs tweaking.

This is the start of a new chapter for Ledecky, and so far the results are positive. For a swimmer like Ledecky, though, the proof is in the margins – and the payoff will come next May at the World Championships.

Leah Smith‘s New Season

Ledecky isn’t the only veteran who had a successful first race at the top of the women’s 800 free under new training. Leah Smith, who moved after the Olympic Trials from the University of Arizona and coach Augie Busch to the University of Texas and coach Carol Capitani.

On Wednesday, she finished 2nd in the 800 free in a time of 8:23.78. That’s a whopping 12 seconds better than she swam at the Olympic Trials.

While Smith has been as fast as 8:16.33, her swim on Wednesday is the fastest that she’s been in this event since the fateful March 2020 Pro Swim Series stop in Des Moines, Iowa, where she was about three-tenths faster.

She joined a very good training group in Austin. It includes Olympian Erica Sullivan, and in Evie Pfeifer, an NCAA title contender in both the 500 and 1650 freestyles.

We don’t know yet what Smith will look like in the new quad. We don’t know which events will become her focus, whether she’ll go distance, mid-distance, or even the 400 IM. That makes the context on this 800 free a little murky, but at a minimum, it’s very good – it’s the fastest she’s been since the COVID-19 pandemic exploded, and it shows that she, like Ledecky, is settling into her new training group in a positive way.