Katie Ledecky Smashes 400 IM American Record, Tops NCAA Record in 3:56.5

2018 WOMEN’S PAC-12 SWIMMING & DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Stanford’s Katie Ledecky made history on Friday night at the 2018 Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Washington. Ledecky went up against American Record holder and teammate Ella Eastin in the 400 IM, reclaiming the American Record from Eastin and taking down Katinka Hosszu’s NCAA Record as she won the race in 3:56.53. Eastin was also under the former American Record, taking silver in 3:57.32.

Last season, Ledecky topped Eastin at this meet to take the American Record in this event. Eastin took it right back at NCAAs a month later.

Ledecky’s Splits:

  • 100 Fly Split- 54.75
  • 100 Back Split- 59.29
  • 100 Breast Split- 1:09.43
  • 100 Free Split- 53.06
  • Final Time- 3:56.53

The former NCAA Record stood as a 3:56.54 done by Katinka Hosszu when she swam for USC back in 2012. Ledecky topped that by a hundredth tonight. Her improvement from last season’s swim came mostly on the front half. She was a full second faster on backstroke this time around, but came home a half second slower on the free leg.

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Aquamarine
6 years ago

Congratulations Katie!!!

Swimsquare
6 years ago

Cool to see a picture of Ledecky doing backstroke! It would be interesting to see what she could do shaved and tapered in a 200 backstroke.

OldCard
Reply to  Swimsquare
6 years ago

How about what Katie could do in a 200 fly? She was more than a half second ahead of the defending NCAA 200 fly champ after the first 100 of the IM and her endurance is otherworldly.

Coach Mike 1952
Reply to  OldCard
6 years ago

Any video yet??!!

Yozhik
Reply to  Swimsquare
6 years ago

Nice picture indeed.

Coach Mike 1952
6 years ago

She actually got the whole spread – school, meet, conference, NCAA, American & US Open. Any left out?

Admin
Reply to  Coach Mike 1952
6 years ago

Pool.

Coach Mike 1952
Reply to  Braden Keith
6 years ago

Thanks, you are right.

iLikePsych
Reply to  Coach Mike 1952
6 years ago

That’s what happens when you go the fastest time ever

bobo gigi
6 years ago

Congrats to KL. As a big 400 IM fan it’s cool to watch the best mid-distance/distance female freestyler of all time try to have fun in the decathlon of swimming. She’s bold. I’m not surprised she breaks that record. Hosszu version 2012 was not the 2015/2016 version. That was beatable. KL has improved her back and fly a lot in the last few years. And in the bathtub she can survive in breaststroke. Which is a very hard thing to do in long course if your breaststroke is bad or even average. It will be interesting to see if she persists in the future. Does she have that event in mind for 2020? Usually it’s on the first day of… Read more Β»

Yozhik
Reply to  bobo gigi
6 years ago

You can call SCY competition any insulting word you want, but the performance we witnessed yesterday is no joke and is of highest quality.
BTW, Katinka Hosszu wasn’t nobody in 2012 on international scene and had already a world title. With her great underwater the SCY competition suites her much better than LCM. The 200BK race in Rio is a good illustration to that. After each turn she got a body length advantage against Maya DiRado and were losing this it at actual stroke.
Beating 6 year old SCY record of Katinka Hosszu is a great achievement of Katie Ledecky. Admit it.

Brownish
Reply to  Yozhik
6 years ago

BTW, nobody thought that anybody could beat Katinka after the 100 back. Not even Maya. Yes, her turns are pretty good (Windsor, Coppenhagen, 17/18 NR in SCM etc.).

SwimGeek
Reply to  bobo gigi
6 years ago

Bobo — Ledecky can “survive” in the big pool also. She was 4:38 in April last year. I’m not saying she could beat Hosszu right now, but I think she could get her self on an international podium if she wanted to give a run at 4IM.

Yozhik
6 years ago

Katie Ledecky was already once a record holder at 400IM SCY. It didn’t last long. Just three weeks. For how long will it be this time? Ella Eastin was not too far behind at the finish today and hopefully she wasn’t tapered. This competition of teammates benefits everybody: Katie, Ella and fans.

Ervin
6 years ago

Congrats Katie! I think this and Missy’s 200 free were the two hardest women’s ncaa records on the book…one down

bobo gigi
Reply to  Ervin
6 years ago

I disagree. Hosszu’s record was great but not unbeatable at all. The Hosszu of 2015/2016 would have swum around 3.50/3.52 in my opinion. Belmonte tapered too.
I agree about Missy’s 200 free about one of the best NCAA female records. Maybe the hardest to break along with Katie Ledecky’s freestyle records. But talking about the hardest records. The 200 fly in magical suits is tough to beat too. Simone’s 100 free is huge too. But Lilly King’s 100 breast too. πŸ™‚

Caleb
Reply to  bobo gigi
6 years ago

I’ll agree with you there… a lot of women have been within a second or two of the IM record but no one’s come remotely close to that 200 free, before or since. I’d have put Lily King’s in the same category but somehow I get the feeling that breastrokers are improving fast (including her).

Poropat
6 years ago

Hosszu : Iron :: Ledecky : Titanium

Yozhik
Reply to  Poropat
6 years ago

That’s what wrong with this ‘iron’ stuff – it gets rusty if spends too much time in the water. πŸ˜€

Brownish
Reply to  Yozhik
6 years ago

Sure, her time got rusty in 6 years by 0.01s πŸ˜€

Swimmer A
6 years ago

Soooo what does she swim at NCAAs? 400 IM or 200 Free? I’m going under the assumption she’ll do the 1650 in March because she just has to get under that 15 minute barrier.

About Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh

Lauren Neidigh is a former NCAA swimmer at the University of Arizona (2013-2015) and the University of Florida (2011-2013). While her college swimming career left a bit to be desired, her Snapchat chin selfies and hot takes on Twitter do not disappoint. She's also a high school graduate of The …

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