{"id":31171,"date":"2012-07-09T18:25:14","date_gmt":"2012-07-09T23:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/uncategorized\/2012\/07\/londons-calling-katie-ledecky-and-kate-ziegler\/"},"modified":"2016-05-27T09:43:21","modified_gmt":"2016-05-27T16:43:21","slug":"londons-calling-katie-ledecky-and-kate-ziegler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/londons-calling-katie-ledecky-and-kate-ziegler\/","title":{"rendered":"London’s Calling: Katie Ledecky and Kate Ziegler"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX, Arizona, July 9. CONTINUING with the distance theme, today Swimming World profiles Team USA’s women’s 800 freestyle contenders. This duo consists of youngster Katie Ledecky and veteran 2008 Olympian Kate Ziegler.<\/p>\n

Katie Ledecky: <\/b><\/p>\n

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Katie Ledecky just finished her freshman year of high school at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, MD. While most 15-year-olds spend their break procrastinating a summer reading list, Ledecky will instead be heading to London to represent Team USA in the 800 meter freestyle.<\/p>\n

Ledecky began her swimming career at age 6 for the Palisades Porpoises. She currently trains at Curl-Burke Bethesda under coach Yuri Suguiyama, who was featured in Swimming World Magazine’s May 2012 Training segment.<\/p>\n

2012 seems like the year of improvement for Ledecky, who made a serious splash at the Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix in May by winning the 800 meter freestyle with a time of 8:25.85.<\/p>\n

Going into Trials, Ledecky told ESPN HS sports that she “…want[s] to make finals in at least one event, hopefully two or three.”<\/p>\n

Well, Ledecky certainly exceeded her personal expectations in Omaha. Although she didn’t initially qualify for the Olympic team after placing third in the 400 freestyle, she did manage to break Janet Evan’s 24-year-old 15-16 age group record in the same event. Talk about a nice consolation prize.<\/p>\n

She followed up this record with a dominant performance in the 800 meter freestyle final, clocking a time of 8:19.78. This ranks her time second fastest in the world this year, only to British swimmer Rebecca Adlington.<\/p>\n

Second place in Omaha went to Kate Ziegler, whom Ledecky has followed from a young age.<\/p>\n

“I’ve always looked up to (Ziegler),” Ledecky told Yahoo! Sports. “She’s an amazing athlete and I have pictures with her when I was little, so this is just amazing to be here with her and go to London with her.”<\/p>\n

Kate Ziegler: <\/b><\/p>\n

Due to NBC rights holder restrictions, the following video interview is only viewable until 7\/27\/2012:
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