Produced by Coleman Hodges
Watch Katie Ledecky 800 free race video here.
WOMEN’S 800 FREESTYLE – FINALS RECAP – 2015 Arena Pro Swim Series Austin
Katie Ledecky has been swimming well all week, just to put it lightly. She swam a time in the 400m freestyle that no swimmer in history other than herselfand Federica Pellegrini’s 2009 performance is faster than, capped off a win in the 100m freestyle with a personal best time, and won the 200m freestyle by over two-and-a-half second.
Tonight however, was all about Ledecky and the clock.
Starting the race, Ledecky was off the blocks and in the lead. At the 100 meter mark she was under world record pace and was a full two body-lengths ahead of the rest of the field. At the 200 meter mark, Ledecky wasn’t even in the same frame as the rest of the field and remained under world record pace.
With constant 1:02’s and 1:01’s, Ledecky was under world record pace for the next 400 meters. She was just off that mark at the 700 meter mark, turning in 7:11.13. With 50 to go, Ledecky was still slightly over her own world record pace. She poured a strong kick and amazing stroke-rate into the last 50 to split a 28.95 and finish just shy of her world record time of 8:11.00.
Ledecky was a 8:11.23 at the touch, a time which stands as the second best performance in the 800m freestyle of all time.
She was out in 4:05.04, back in 4:06.19. She won the race by a ridiculous amount, with second place finisher Elizabeth Beisel, who’s by no means a slow swimmer, finished second in 8:39.76.
Too short interview.
I would like to hear something about her training and about her goals for the next 2 years.
Try to catch her coach next time too. It could be very interesting.