29-year old Michael Phelps is the most decorated swimmer in the sport’s history. 18-year old high school senior Katie Ledecky might challenge him for that title by the time she’s done, and on Friday morning, Ledecky made a statement by swimming a 4:02.67 in the women’s 400 free prelims, which is exactly the same time that Phelps swam in the men’s 400 free prelims.
Ledecky’s time gave her the top overall seed, while Phelps’ left him just 17th.
Of course, Phelps’ best time in the event (3:46.73 – former American Record) is much faster than Ledecky’s best time in the event (3:58.37 – current World Record), but this is just another sampling of how far Ledecky pushes the limits of swimming beyond the boundaries of her gender.
National Teamer Conor Dwyer on Thursday spoke about training with Ledecky at the Olympic Training Center, and mentioned that Ledecky actually beat him in one specific set. When the Olympic Trials cuts were revealed last year, Ledecky had already achieved the men’s cuts in the 400 and 1500 frees, and her 400 has gotten faster since then.
Not that we needed to be reminded of how good Ledecky is, but she is quickly becoming “can’t-miss” swimming, where almost every time she’s in the water, the expectation is history.
Phelps was scheduled to swim the C-Final, but scratched out of the evening session.
I understand the buzz swimswam can do with that kind of headline, but that’s an useless article in my opinion.
And while I’m a big Ledecky fan, she will never be the most decorated swimmer in history. If you only swim and win on freestyle, that’s not possible.
She still has 17 olympic gold medals and 22 world gold medals to equal Michael Phelps.
And MP will probably add a few others next year.
Bobo,
Of course you are correct. But this isn’t about medals, it is about creating hype and media coverage for our sport. Some of the biggest, well known athletes in the US haven’t accomplished much in terms of wins (Tim Tebow, LoLo Jones, etc.) but they are huge for attracting crowds and attention. How cool would it be to insert Ledecky into the Phelps/Lochte rivalry? Phelps tied, but Lochte beat her time by less than a second. Years ago it was an enormous media event when a pro woman golfer almost made the cut in a men’s event. What would happen in FINA or USA swimming allowed something similar for just one meet as an exception? It would be… Read more »
Wow!!!……interesting, now MP have two other good swimmers to beat..this should motivate him to swim even faster!!
Some will argue that he didn’t get “chicked” because they tied, but c’mon, when you’re the greatest swimmer of all time and a woman ties you in an event that you used to hold the American Record in… you got chicked!!
So awesome!
Katie is 18, by the way.
When Ye topped Lochtes split in London Olympics, there was a huge outcry. talk about double standards
She’s been right up there. You can look it up on usaswimming.org but her 1536 in 2013 as a 16 would have made her the 3rd fastest boy, behind Nick Norman and PJ Ransford.
how come no interview with Michael about his 400 and his thoughts?
Lol. Phelps called Ledecky a “dude” , so there!!!!!!!!
I think he was having a hard time processing that he almost got chicked. (And she probably will top his time tonight.)
Here is a suggested interview question to MP: “So Michael, you referred to her as a “dude.” This is a major diss, but rather than respond, she says she’ll do her talking in the pool. What are your thoughts? Let’s have some fun and stir the pot a little. Good for swimming.
I never heard the verb “chicked” before! LOL!
I think that ‘getting chicked’ is largely a running term.
yes, getting ‘chic’d is a running term