Every time we see Katie Ledecky in the pool, she does something new that astounds us. Every time we see her in the water, she has a new gear, a new event, or a new kick that we haven’t seen before. En route to this World Championship meet, she showed all three.
This race might have been all three. Ledecky didn’t swim the 400 free last year at the Olympics, but she did show her potential with a split in the 800 free that was the American National Age Group Record.
This year, with an eye on stopping at the 400 in this, her first race, the expectations were high, and Ledecky flew to meet them.
She swam a 3:59.82, which is the second-fastest swim in the history of this event, the fastest not done in a polyurethane suit, the second woman under four minutes, a new United States 15-16 National Age Group Record, and a new American Record.
Let’s start with some comparative splits:
| 100m | 200m | 300m | 400m | Total | ||
| Ledecky | New AR | 58.12 | 1:00.62 | 1:00.55 | 1:00.53 | 3:59.82 |
| Schmitt | Old AR | 58.11 | 1:01.77 | 1:01.23 | 1:00.66 | 4:01.77 |
| Ledecky | Old NAG (800 front-half) | 58.81 | 1:01.14 | 1:02.15 | 1:02.24 | 4:04.34 |
| Pellegrini | Current WR | 58.66 | 1:00.76 | 1:00.51 | 59.22 | 3:59.15 |
So what are we looking at here? Katie Ledecky went out in the 4th-fastest 200 free (1:58.74) we’ve seen among the fifty fastest 400 frees in history, and she was still able to negative-split the last three hundreds.
Now, she’s not quite to the level of control that Federica Pellegrini had in 2008 and 2009 in polyurethane (Pellegrini could go out in 1:58, or she could come home in 1:59), but short of that, Ledecky has found her wheel-house. She knows she has a history of starting too fast, but she’s now been able to combine that with an ability to finish very fast as well. That’s dangerous.
The American women’s 400 free relay was incredible. The American men’s 400 free relay was disappointing. But Ledecky, under four minutes, was the story of the day for the Americans at the 2013 World Championships.
Other Thoughts on the USA
- Missy Franklin was the only carryover from last year’s finals, where the Americans took bronze. None of the other three finalists swam even in prelims this year.
- Megan Romano is a monster.
- Dana Vollmer said she was sick for the last two days, and is feeling better each day.
- Eugene Godsoe stepped up for his big-boy meet.
- Nic Fink wasn’t done after Trials, he dropped time again here to go 59.8 and final in the 100 breaststroke.
- Connor Jaeger’s speed, like Ledecky’s, is coming around this year.
- Claire Donahue is taking her 100 butterflies out really fast.
- Did Jimmy Feigen get put through to finals on 400 free relay because he was 2nd at Trials? Or because the coaches thought he was the best option? Would be an interesting answer to hear.
- Missy Franklin looks good. She just missed her best time in the 100 free (from Trials) with a 53.51 relay leadoff.
- Megan Romano’s swim was the second-fastest 100 freestyle split in American history, behind only the 52.44 that Dara Torres did at the Beijing Olympics.
- Adrian’s 47.95 isn’t what anybody wanted, but it is his fastest time of the year. Reports are that he was vomiting behind the medal podium after the race, so we know he went all-out.
- Putting Coughlin on the finals relay paid off in a big way. What would have been had she been on the finals relay in London?
Records:
Katie Ledecky, NAG Record, 15-16 girls’ 400 free
New Record: 3:59.82. Old Record: Katie Ledecky 4:04.34, 2012 (was a 4:04.05 in prelims as well, technically the old record).
Katie Ledecky, NAG Record, American Record, women’s 400 free
New Record: 3:59.82. Old Record: Allison Schmitt 4:01.77, 2012
Missy Franklin, Natalie Coughlin, Shannon Vreeland, Megan Romano, American Record, women’s 400 free
New Record: 3:32.31. Old Record: Missy Franklin, Jessica Hardy, Lia Neal
(Read more here on that record).
Changing subjects…..American women 200 IM is terrible. Beisel looked sooooo slow.
dude, why is no one talking about that cray cray anchor swim by the frenchies? sick nasty fast
Because it was the third leg that was cray cray fast, not the anchor.
Sorry here but u have to see Stravius start and underwater again . He was not hugely fast but HUGELY effective …If Feigen had that kind of underwater , he would have won . Period .
We (USA) lost a very close race to France that has big, strong and very talented swimmers too.
They beat us fair and square and whenever the USA loses a relay, we all play armchair QB and second guess everything.
We may have had a faster relay with a different line up, but the same could be said for France.
The US women were great.
Using the same four individuals in the men’s 4×100 free relay for USA, it seems like we would have better results with Feigen going first and Adrian doing the anchor chores… If we continue to belittle efforts of Feigen, its not going to help his psyche much… he still has the 100 free ahead of him… let’s not destroy the athlete!
After the heats my lineup was Ervin on lead, Feigen 2nd, Berens 3rd, with Adrian anchoring.
I like your lineup. It makes sense to me.
Makes sense but hadn’t Ervin previously expressed a desire NOT to lead off? (I think the 2nd slot was his tweeted preference) We know that his standing starts aren’t exactly the greatest in the world…
I think the problem with starting anyone on the US relay whose last name isn’t Adrian is that you run the risk of subsequent swimmers being swamped by all the shock waves from the likes of Magnussen, Agnel & Grechin who on paper at least will likely be faster than the other 3 Americans… IMO 🙂
Of course this is all 2nd guessing and after the fact, very easy to do by us armchair fans unlike what the coaches had to consider, with no dire… Read more »
Ervin really didn’t wanna lead off, though.
Katie Ledecky is so talented and so good it’s crazy. Who knows what she is capable of?
She will destroy her competitors in the 800 and 1500 and the WR’s are in jeopardy.
Records:
Katie Ledecky, NAG Record, 15-16 girls’ 400 free
New Record: 3:59.82. Old Record: Katie Ledecky 4:04.34, 2012
____________________________________________________
The old record was Ledecky’s 4.04.05 from last month’s trials.
“Did Jimmy Feigen get put through to finals on 400 free relay because he was 2nd at Trials? Or because the coaches thought he was the best option? Would be an interesting answer to hear.”
Interesting that your hindsight question for the men’s sprint relay was with regards to Feigen and not you know who. But Feigen earned his spot in the prelims with a solid lead off split (as did Berens in my opinion). He didn’t swim as well in the evening but you can’t put that on the coaches. They could have done what the women’s coaches did with Vreeland and just promote the 2nd place trials finisher direct to the finals without a morning swim. The only… Read more »
Well then, that question wouldn’t make sense then, would it? Because Lochte wasn’t 2nd at Trials, so the only explanation is that the coaches felt he would be the best option. That’s a decision that was made before prelims. The question was whether the Feigen/Berens decision was made before prelims or after seeing the results of prelims.
Obviously the coaches went with who they thought were the best options (as they always do). We’re just playing Monday Morning Quarterback or Swim Geek dissection (it feels like a post mortem when you don’t meet expectations). You’re right they knew they were probably taking Lochte along with Adrian to finals before the prelims … unless the morning swimmers put down some eye opening times to make them rethink that. I think with the benefit of hindsight it’s a fair question to ask why were they so sold on Lochte? The morning swims were surprisingly quick. I would have thought that might make them pause and reconsider that. The finals swim was only .27 quicker than their morning heat swim.… Read more »
Obviously, you already have an unwavering view of this relay’s selection. You see Lochte as being the only problem; you defend the use of Feigen; and, you defend the exclusion of Berens.
I would bet you that the coaching staff wanted and expected a 47.8 from Lochte and he delivered it. Any American fans would have been happy to know their 4th guy was going to be 47.8 … before the race.
Coaches should have taken Berens. 47.5 is a hot swim. 48.39 is damn fast … 4-8 years ago. Now, that’s a solid time, but it isn’t a head turner.
“If he had Beren’s massive change over advantage then he’s very close to Berens time.” I don’t think so. Feigen benefited from an excellent .68 start. With a .07 start, he’s 47.7 … still 2 tenths from Berens. The relay was decided by 2 tenths.
If everyone thinks Ledecky’s 400 freestyle was monstrous, just wait for the 800 and the 1500. She will be HUGE on the 800 relay!
I agree. Can’t wait for her other distance events. If only she had kept the 200! It might’ve meant five golds for her (I’m getting ahead of myself, but still)!
Ledecky will smash both those world records.