Performance Of The Week: Katie Ledecky’s 800 Freestyle

Photo Courtesy: R-Sport / Mia Rossiya Segodnaya

Unless you were living under a rock this weekend, by now you know that NCAP’s Katie Ledecky smashed another one of her world records; this time in the 800 meter freestyle at the 2016 Arena Pro Swim Series in Austin, Texas. Ledecky touched the wall in an unreal 8:06.68, and in the process of winning the event cleared her old record of 8:07.39 from last summer as well as her U.S. Open Record of 8:11.00 from 2014.

January is not a time we typically see world records, particularly records of this caliber, fall, which puts what Ledecky did this weekend in a whole other stratosphere. To put Ledecky’s performance into perspective, there has not been a world record set in January since all the way back in 2006, when the Commonwealth Games were held that month. With this swim, she now owns a staggering nine of the top ten fastest 800 freestyle performances of all time. The closest to her is British Olympian Rebecca Adlington, who had previously broken the world record with a 8:14.10 from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Check out the race video here:

As if her 800 freestyle weren’t enough, Ledecky also demonstrated unprecedented versatility in winning the 200 and 400 meter freestyles in addition to being the top American finisher in the 100 freestyle. Ledecky’s time’s in the 200 (1:54.43) and 100 freestyle (53.75) were also personal bests.

Congratulations Katie Ledecky on the Swimming World Performance of the Week!

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Nekdoodle

8 years ago

Great Job Katie Ledecky!!

Mark Schwartz

8 years ago

We all seem to have forgotten that in Barcelona in 2013, Lotte Friis also eclipsed Adlingon’s time.