LumaLanes Performance of the Week: Ledecky Surprises Everyone (Including Herself) With World Record

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

This week’s Performance Of The Week, sponsored by LumaLanes, goes to Katie Ledecky for her stunning world record performance in the women’s 1500 free at the 2018 Arena Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis.

There has already been plenty of written about Ledecky’s swim, and for good reason. This was Ledecky’s first world record of her pro career, and was actually the first time she has broken a world record since moving to train at Stanford following the 2016 Rio Olympics. It was also the sixth time she had broken the record in this event in her career, with her previous best in the event coming from the 2015 World Championships in Kazan.

And boy did she ever break it: Ledecky nearly became the first woman in history to dip under the 15:20 mark, dropping her 2015 record by 5 seconds and continuing to cement herself as one of the most dominant swimmers in history.

To put her swim in perspective, Ledecky is now owns the 9 fastest performances in the 1500 freestyle in history, and is the fastest performer in history by a staggering 18 seconds. It is also a full 22 seconds faster than the last world record in the event which was set by Kate Ziegler back in 2007 (you can see a full list of the world record progression here).

Ledecky was just as surprised as anyone about her world record, clearly stating after her race that she wasn’t expecting that despite having some of the best training of her life over the last six weeks and feeling like her confidence is “really high right now.”

But the most exciting thing about this swim is that it is only May, meaning Ledecky still has a full summer ahead of her to continue to push the boundaries on what is possible. And with the 21-year-old appearing to be firing on all cylinders (she also had the second-fastest 400 free in history and third-fastest 800 free in history this weekend), the only limit on what she may do this summer is what she can dream up.

Congratulations Katie Ledecky on earning Swimming World’s Performance of the Week!

Special Thanks to LumaLanes for sponsoring Swimming World’s Performance of the Week.

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Thomas A. Small

5 years ago

Congratulations Katie