2017 FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, July 23rd – Sunday, July 30th
- Budapest, Hungary
- LCM (50m)
- Full Competition Schedule
- Meet Info
- Psych Sheets
- Omega Results
- Pick ’em Contest
- Event-by-Event Previews
All good things must come to an end. Tonight, Katie Ledecky dove into the pool in the finals of the women’s 200 freestyle having won gold in every single individual event she had swum at the international level. That’s 13-0 across two Olympic Games and three World Championships, 17-0 if you include Pan Pacs.
Given Ledecky’s endurance, it wasn’t too concerning that she started a little slow. But, world record holder Federica Pellegrini outsplit Ledecky 28.82 to 29.75, to win by over four-tenths of a second, as Ledeck tied with Australia Emma McKeon for 2nd.
Thus ended Ledecky’s streak of utter dominance that began in 2012, when Ledecky, a relatively unknown 15 year-old at the time, stormed out to a massive lead in the 800 free at the Olympics and never looked back, shocking the world and earning a gold medal well before she’d gotten her driver’s license.
Barcelona 2013 World Championships, Gold Coast 2014 Pan Pacific Championships, Kazan 2015 World Championships, and Rio 2016 Olympics — Ledecky swept the 200, 400, 800, and 1500 freestyle each and every time, and it was getting hard not to wonder if she’d ever lose.
She’d already won the 400 and 1500 free this week, and she appeared to be the clear favorite for the 200 as well, especially after she swam a 1:54.69 last night less than an hour after winning the 1500 free. Obviously, that time would have earned gold tonight if she’d repeated it. But the signs where there that Ledecky wasn’t just quite as sharp as we’d seen in previous years.
Three individual finals into Worlds, and Ledecky has zero world records. It’s hard to justify expecting world records, especially given Ledecky’s workload, but it’s hard not to be just a tad disappointed when Ledecky used to set world records at random in season meets. This also effectively ends Ledecky’s quest to match Missy Franklin’s record of six gold medals at a single world championship.
In her post-race interview, Ledecky wasn’t sure herself what exactly had happened, saying “I just didn’t feel really like myself in the middle of the race.”
There are plenty of possible explanations. Given her post-race comments, it’s quite possible that she’s feeling just a little ill, something that would definitely compound the effects of a stacked lineup like she has.
Her performances this week could have been affected by the major life change she’s had this year. After years of training at home and swimming for NCAP, Ledecky made the move across the country to Stanford, and switched coaches and training environment. She wouldn’t be the first swimmer who’s had a small hiccup after making such a move (although, again, if not setting world records is one’s idea of a hiccup, you’re still doing very very well).
Also, as tough as this may be to comprehend, all swimmers hit their peak at some point, where they stop dropping time like they did when they were younger, and Ledecky may simply have arrived at that point. That’s not to say she’ll never break another world record, or that she’s destined to become an average swimmer in the near future. It’s just tough to stay at the level where you’re the top swimmer in multiple events for year after year.
None of this is a knock against Ledecky. For each of the past four seasons, she’s taken on one of the toughest schedules you’ll ever see, and performed flawlessly. Especially if she sensed that her training was a bit off this year, she could have paired down her schedule, focused on a couple events and shot for world records. To be disappointed about “settling” for silver for the first time in well over a dozen individual swims shows how high she has set the bar for herself, and there’s little doubt that that the greatest distance swimmer ever will continue her overall domination to Tokyo and perhaps beyond.
Try the 400 IM. It worked for Leah Smith ?
And that other Stanford distance swimmer, Janet Evans.
She damn near got 4th. Closer to 4th than 1st. Is that tragic, no not really but its not as though she got touched out by one super swim from a great swimmer.
Let me clarify that. Yes she got touched out by a great swim by a great swimmer, but there were 3 other swimmers in the same vicinity. All great swims by great swimmers.
I think it is safe to say, Katie will survive.
She will go home with (most probably) 5G & 1S… 99% of the rest of swimmers will kill for something like that.
Let’s just chill and give her a break!
I wrote this before (and was downvoted because of it, although it was not a derogatory comment): KL looks much rounder this year than last year. I don’t know if it’s because she slacked it off a bit or it’s just her body changing. I dont even know if it affects her swimming in any way (although I can’t see how it could not affect it). Having said that, she is still the best all-around freestyler in the world and probably will go down as the best female freestyler of all times. And every streak must come to an end. After all she did not loose to a nobody, she lost to the greatest 200 freestyler up to date. And… Read more »
Please, don’t think I’m jumping on Katie. She’s totally entitled to an average swim here and there. I’m honesty asking, because I think I notice that she is too “bulky”. Not saying she is fat, but she looks larger and thicker than Rio. Maybe too much time in the weight room? She doesn’t seem as fluid and long in her stroke. Does any agree that she her physique has changed and maybe not for the better?
Biggest change for her is that she no longer training with boys. The Stanford women and men team train separately. She also no longer has her own personal coach. Gemmell had no other responsibilities than to train Katie.
Don’t know her personally, but from everything I read her family values education.
Stanford is the gold standard of athletics/academics. Cut her one break. Maybe she wants the whole package.
She’s an unparalleled athlete but it’s undeniable that she’s had a bit of an off-year, her first since coming onto the international scene. It won’t be shocking if she never matches her Rio times again, even if she continues to dominate international competition for a while. Remember Janet Evans? Ledecky, like everyone, is human and has her limits. (and one of those limits is that she’ll never be a truly-world-class sprinter, no matter what). Anyway, I think in the natural progression of any athlete, one of the first things to decline is resilience – in competition, and in training. It’s no shame to say that a couple of 1500s took something out of her, even if it wouldn’t have in… Read more »