Fueled by Katie Ledecky, the 800 Freestyle Has Risen to Special Heights
As 2025 ticks down, we’ll occasionally assess the past 11-plus months and select highlights from the year to showcase. Unquestionably, the women’s 800-meter freestyle offered a number of fireworks. There was Katie Ledecky’s world record of 8:04.12 from May. There was Summer McIntosh’s 8:05.07 from June. There was the much-hyped duel between Ledecky and McIntosh in the event at the World Championships, where Australian Lani Pallister finished between the American and Canadian and clocked 8:05.98 for the silver medal.
When Ledecky emerged as the Olympic champion in the event as a 15-year-old at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, it marked the beginning of a movement. The American superstar took the 800 freestyle to heights that were never previously imagined. Between 2013 and 2016, Ledecky set five world records in the discipline, the last of which was the 8:04.79 that granted her gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. At the time, Ledecky was nearly 10 seconds faster than the No. 2 performer in history, British Olympic titlist Rebecca Adlington (8:14.10).
In the process of redefining the 16-lap freestyle, Ledecky raised the bar for her opposition and invited her foes to push themselves into new territory. We saw Australian Ariarne Titmus make significant gains in the event, her third-best discipline, and eventually go as fast as 8:12.29. From China, Li Bingjie set an Asian record of 8:13.31 at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka. At the 2024 Olympic Games, American Paige Madden dialed up a massive personal best (8:13.00) to win the bronze medal.
But the 2025 campaign was something special in the lore of the 800 freestyle. The challenge thrown down by Ledecky as the undisputed queen of distance swimming was accepted by McIntosh and Pallister during the past year. Although she previously dabbled in the event, McIntosh made it part of her World Champs program in Singapore, eager to test herself against the greatest on the season’s biggest stage. The outcome was dropping to 8:05.07 at the Canadian Trials.
Pallister, meanwhile, showed that her new training environment under the watch of coach Dean Boxall is paying massive dividends. She sliced nine-plus seconds off her previous best to join Ledecky and McIntosh in the sub-8:06 club, and also set a world record in the short-course version of the 800 freestyle. If there was any doubt she could contend with Ledecky and McIntosh, it was erased during her silver-medal showing in Singapore.
The year also saw Italian Simona Quadarella take the European record to 8:12.81 at the World Championships, where she finished in fourth place.
Of course, Ledecky’s world record of 8:04.12 from the TYR Pro Series in Fort Lauderdale was the pinnacle moment of the year. In a performance for the ages, Ledecky cut .67 from her nine-year-old world record from Rio and added another chapter to her Hall of Fame story. She followed with an 8:05.62 marker at Worlds, every bit of that time needed to fend off Pallister.
At the start of 2025, there wasn’t much discussion about a transformative shift in the 800 freestyle. But that’s where we stand as 2026 beckons, and Ledecky is the reason, having established a target for others to eagerly chase.