Swimming video edit by Coleman Hodges
WOMEN’S 400 Freestyle – Reported by Braden Keith
In what seems to be a trend tonight, Katie Ledecky won the women’s 400m freestyle in start-to-finish fashion in a new junior world record of 4:03.84. That improved upon her own official record of 4:05.27 from prelims, though it was still four seconds slower than her personal best.
Ledecky already swam one final tonight, the 100 free, and showed off her range in what she called a “long sprint” after the race. In tonight’s final she was a little slower on the first 100m then this morning’s prelim, but made up for it during her last 200m. See the splits below.
KEDECKY’S PRELIMS SPLITS: 58.38, 1:01.81, 1:02.51, 1:02.56
KEDECKY’S FINALS SPLITS: 58.58, 1:00.23, 1:02.26, 1:01.77
Clearly by analyzing these splits you can see that Ledecky was out a little slower during that first 100m, but her second 100 and fourth 100 really kicked in to give her a stronger swim tonight. Noteably, Ledecky seems be gaining a little more speed in the short races as she gets older, which should continue to help her in distance and middle distance races.
That swim ties Katie Ledecky with Mireia Belmonte-Garcia for the world-leader in 2014.
May I assume her 2nd 100 split in the final was 1:01.23?
swimming her senior state meet, great to see her being their for her team and teammates.