Katie Ledecky Chops 2 Seconds Off 1500 Free World Record at 2015 FINA World Championships

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

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Katie Ledecky continued her march towards immortality as the best distance freestyle swimmer of all time with another world-record smashing in the women’s 1500-meter free at the 2015 FINA World Championships.

Ledecky won the finale in 15:25.48 to earn her sixth career world title and break her preliminary world record of 15:27.71. Most noticeable, Ledecky held off on going to her legs until the very end of the race as she kept her tank full for the women’s 200-meter free semis later in the evening.

Comparative Splits

Katie Ledecky, 15:28.36, 2014:

28.56, 59.34 (30.78), 1:30.41 (31.07), 2:01.85 (31.44), 2:32.89 (31.04), 3:04.03 (31.14), 3:35.23 (31.20), 4:06.57 (31.34), 4:37.74 (31.17), 5:09.13 (31.39), 5:40.41 (31.28), 6:11.76 (31.35), 6:42.96 (31.20), 7:14.25 (31.29), 7:45.55 (31.30), 8:16.90 (31.35), 8:47.98 (31.08), 9:19.11 (31.13), 9:50.07 (30.96), 10:20.96 (30.89), 10:52.08 (31.12), 11:23.08 (31.00), 11:53.81 (30.73), 12:24.95 (31.14), 12:55.66 (30.71), 13:26.65 (30.99), 13:57.56 (30.91), 14:28.52 (30.96), 14:59.37 (30.85), 15:28.36 (28.99)

Katie Ledecky, 15:27.71, 2015:

28.56, 59.09 (30.53), 1:30.41 (31.32), 2:01.83 (31.42), 2:33.05 (31.22), 3:04.01 (30.96), 3:35.14 (31.13), 4:06.41 (31.27), 4:37.76 (31.35), 5:08.95 (31.19), 5:40.01 (31.06), 6:11.18 (31.17), 6:42.37 (31.19), 7:13.42 (31.05), 7:44.35 (30.93), 8:15.29 (30.94), 8:46.44 (31.15), 9:17.76 (31.32), 9:48.63 (30.87), 10:19.55 (30.92), 10:50.59 (31.04), 11:21.84 (31.25), 11:52.66 (30.82), 12:23.58 (30.92), 12:54.50 (30.92), 13:25.50 (31.00), 13:56.39 (30.89), 14:27.51 (31.12), 14:58.25 (30.73), 15:27.71 (29.47)

Katie Ledecky, 15:25.48, 2015:

28.37, 59.04 (30.67), 1:29.68 (30.64), 2:00.52 (30.84), 2:31.43 (30.91), 3:02.46 (31.03), 3:33.64 (31.18), 4:04.69 (31.05), 4:35.93 (31.24), 5:06.89 (30.96), 5:38.09 (31.20), 6:09.19 (31.10), 6:40.29 (31.10), 7:11.38 (31.09), 7:42.37 (30.99), 8:13.25 (30.88), 8:44.15 (30.90), 9:15.26 (31.11), 9:46.27 (31.01), 10:17.23 (30.96), 10:48.11 (30.88), 11:19.24 (31.13), 11:50.24 (31.00), 12:21.24 (31.00), 12:52.38 (31.14), 13:23.42 (31.05), 13:54.52 (31.09), 14:25.62 (31.10), 14:56.46 (30.84), 15:25.48 (29.02)

On top of cutting two seconds off her previous record and moving 13 seconds ahead of the second-fastest swimmer all time (Lotte Friis, 15:38.88), Ledecky’s splits are truly remarkable.

Ledecky clocked an 8:13.25 at the 800-meter mark, which is the fifth fastest time ever in the event. Additionally, Ledecky has now become so dominant in distance freestyle that no one has ever been faster than her 800 split, much less her 800-meter free individual world record of 8:11.00.

Rebecca Adlington topped the 2008 Beijing Olympics with a then-amazing time of 8:14.10 to rank second all time in the world. Now, Ledecky has beat that time with a split.

New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle took silver in 15:40.14 to break the Oceanic record as well as cut four seconds from her personal best of 15:44.71.

Hungary’s Boglarka Kapas snared bronze in 15:47.09 to break 16:00 for the first time as she destroyed her Hungarian record of 16:02.58. That’s about the only Hungarian record outside of Katinka Hosszu’s reach.

Denmark’s Lotte Friis (15:49.00), Australia’s Jessica Ashwood (15:52.17), The Netherlands’ Sharon van Rouwendaal (16:03.74), Chile’s Kristel Kobrich (16:06.55) and Italy’s Aurora Ponsele (16:09.57) also swam in the historic finale.

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