USA Swimming Winter Nationals: Katie Ledecky Makes Everyone Shake Their Heads: 15:15.17 American Record

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KNOXVILLE, Tennessee, December 7. YOU just have to shake your head sometimes. World Swimmer of the Year Katie Ledecky not only scorched the American record in the 1650 free by nearly 10 seconds, she lapped the field that included a two-time Olympian in what might be one of the most amazing distance freestyle swims in the history of our sport here at the USA Swimming Winter Nationals.

Ledecky hit the 500 yard mark in 4:35.35, just two seconds off the time she used to win the event on day one and if she were in college, would be good enough for an NCAA A cut — as a split. Then, about halfway through the swim, Ledecky lapped her first swimmer. At the 1000 mark, she clocked a 9:14.22, cutting several seconds off her personal best and just a few seconds off Katie Hoff’s American record in that event of a 9:10.77.

Ledecky then left no doubt by keeping up the pace with an unreal 15:15.17 to win the finale and cut almost 10 seconds from Katie Hoff’s 2008 record of 15:24.35 set while swimming for North Baltimore. Notably, Ledecky also crushed her meet record of 15:28.36 that also had stood as the 15-16 U.S. National Age Group record until tonight.

“I knew I had to be pretty controlled up front and save my legs so I tried to do that as best as I could and it definitely paid off throughout the race,” Ledecky said. “I felt really good going out and I just got into a good rhythm and tried to stick with it. This is my first short course American record so it’s really neat. It’s been a lot of fun this weekend. I had some good swims and wanted to end on a good note tonight.”

Event 25 Women 1650 Yard Freestyle
========================================
American: A 15:24.35 03/02/2008Katie Hoff, North Baltimore
U.S. Open: O 15:24.35 03/02/2008Katie Hoff, North Baltimore
Meet: M 15:28.36 12/01/2012Katie Ledecky, Nation’s Capital
Name Age Team Seed Finals HyPts Points
=============================================
1 Ledecky, Katie 16 Nation’s Capital 15:28.36 15:15.17A 1080 20
r:+0.72 25.18 52.55 (27.37)
1:20.33 (27.78) 1:48.26 (27.93)
2:15.83 (27.57) 2:43.83 (28.00)
3:11.78 (27.95) 3:39.57 (27.79)
4:07.57 (28.00) 4:35.35 (27.78)
5:03.32 (27.97) 5:31.01 (27.69)
5:58.95 (27.94) 6:26.83 (27.88)
6:54.60 (27.77) 7:22.50 (27.90)
7:50.39 (27.89) 8:18.24 (27.85)
8:46.18 (27.94) 9:14.22 (28.04)
9:42.13 (27.91) 10:10.06 (27.93)
10:37.89 (27.83) 11:05.76 (27.87)
11:33.67 (27.91) 12:01.45 (27.78)
12:29.21 (27.76) 12:57.12 (27.91)
13:25.12 (28.00) 13:53.00 (27.88)
14:20.85 (27.85) 14:48.61 (27.76) 15:15.17 (26.56)

Meanwhile, Indiana’s Lindsay Vrooman put up a strong 15:54.68 for second, while IX3’s Chloe Sutton clocked a 15:57.45 for third.

IX3’s Ashley Twichell (15:59.44), Towson’s Kaitlin Burke (16:07.19), Arizona State’s Tristin Baxter (16:09.75), Minnesota’s Ashley Steenvoorden (16:09.79) and Pleasanton’s Moriah Simonds (16:11.64) rounded out the top eight of the timed final event.

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