2018 INDIANAPOLIS PRO SWIM SERIES
- May 16th-20th, 2018
- IUPUI Natatorium, Indianapolis, IN
- 50m
- Meet Central
- Psych Sheet
- Omega Results
- Saturday Finals Heat Sheet
American swimmer Katie Ledecky, racing in her first meet as a professional swimmer, posted the 3rd-fastest 800 LCM freestyle in history on Saturday to close out her meet at the 2018 Indianapolis Pro Swim Series stop. That won the event by nearly 23 seconds, and ranks as the third-fastest 800 free in history (second-fastest on American soil). Her own World Record (8:04.79), from the 2016 Olympic Games, and her U.S. Open Record (8:06.68), from the 2016 Pro Swim Series meet in Austin, are the only two swims ever done in the event that are faster.
For a moment, it looked like Ledecky would make a run at the U.S. Open Record, if not the World Record, when she dipped under 30 seconds (29.95) for the 50 that took her from 600 meters to 650 meters. That’s something she hasn’t necessarily done before that early in the race. But, the pain showed in the next 50, where she slid back to a 31.13 – her second-slowest 50 of the race. She tried to go sub-30 at the 200m mark earlier in the race, and saw a similar rebound on the 50 after that (30.08/31.25).
Split comparisons to her record-setting swims:
| Ledecky WR | Ledecky U.S. Open | Ledecky Indy PSS 2018 | |
| 100 | 57.98 | 58.82 | 58.74 |
| 200 | 1:01.44 | 1:01.38 | 1:01.89 |
| 300 | `:01.34 | 1:01.60 | 1:01.33 |
| 400 | 1:01.22 | 1:01.42 | 1:01.76 |
| 500 | 1:00.96 | 1:01.40 | 1:01.50 |
| 600 | 1:01.36 | 1:01.38 | 1:01.30 |
| 700 | 1:01.14 | 1:01.37 | 1:01.08 |
| 800 | 59.35 | 59.31 | 59.67 |
| First 400 | 4:01.98 | 4:03.22 | 4:03.72 |
| Second 400 | 4:02.81 | 4:03.46 | 4:04.55 |
| 8:04.79 | 8:06.68 | 8:07.27 |
Ledecky’s ownership of this race grew with the swim. She now holds the 17 fastest performances in history, and 20 of the 21 best (Rebecca Adlington’s former World Record of 8:14.10 from the 2008 Olympics is the only interloper in the top 20).
Ledecky swam a 15:20.48 to open the meet, which broke her own World Record by 5 seconds. 17-year old Erica Sullivan from Sandpipers of Nevada took 2nd in 8:30.15, which is her best time by more than 7 seconds and jumps her to 19th place in the all-time 17-18 age group rankings.
Fastest Performances All-Time, 800m Free
- Ledecky – 8:04.79, 2016
- Ledecky – 8:06.68, 2016
- Ledecky – 8:07.27, 2018
- Ledecky, 8:07.39, 2015
- Ledecky, 8:10.32, 2016
- Ledecky, 8:10.91, 2016
- Ledecky, 8:11.00, 2014
- Ledecky, 8:11.21, 2015
- Ledecky, 8:11.35, 2014
- Ledecky, 8:11.50, 2017
- Ledecky, 8:11.70, 2018
- Ledecky, 8:12.68, 2017
- Ledecky, 8:12.86, 2016
- Ledecky, 8:13.02, 2015
- Ledecky, 8:13.20, 2016
- Ledecky, 8:13.25, 2015
- Ledecky, 8:13.86, 2013
- Adlington, 8:14.10, 2008
- Ledecky, 8:14.63, 2012
- Ledecky, 8:15.29, 2015
- Ledecky, 8:15.44, 2017
- Li Bingjie, 8:15.46, 2017
Congrats guy
It’s odd that the text of the story doesn’t ever say what her time was. It says everything but the time, in fact. Not until you get to the charts does the reader learn how fast Katie actually swam the 800 at this meet.
400 splits are wrong for this pro swim. According to that math she would have gone a 4:08.27 not 4:07.27
Thank you swimswam readers for NOT saying you were disappointed with the swim because it wasn’t a WR.
With the exception of Olympic 2012 race in London Katie Ledecky swims 800FR event at the very end of usually overloaded tough meets. Should the 1500 and the 800 events were switched in this meet we most likely would see her challenging WR
But I thought her 1500 WR here relatively fresh on the first day was all part of a grand master plan to launch the marketing of her pro career?
The level of her performance at this meet was very similar to the level of her performance in Kazan World Championship where she was specially prepared. More over this meet was compressed into twice shorter time frame and included two 400IM and two 100FR races vs 4×200 final in Kazan. The logical conclusion would be that either she has progressed significantly during two years after Kazan so she can show such amazing in-season times or this meet was of special importance and required some special preparation.
If the later took place then the following question will be very natural – WHY?
You may think in right direction. Congratulations to you ability to think that deep about motivations of professional swimmers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmQ6zXfjrek
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Pan_Pacific_Swimming_Championships_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_200_metre_freestyle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP-Ly_uO1n0
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Pan_Pacific_Swimming_Championships_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_800_metre_freestyle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE7Wz4-r3t4
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Pan_Pacific_Swimming_Championships_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_400_metre_freestyle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68BtNNtN8RM
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Pan_Pacific_Swimming_Championships_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_1500_metre_freestyle
2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships (21 Aug 2014 – 25 Aug 2014)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Pan_Pacific_Swimming_Championships
Guess again. Try the 2014 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships (21 Aug 2014 – 25 Aug 2014).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Pan_Pacific_Swimming_Championships_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_800_metre_freestyle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP-Ly_uO1n0
You can never be disappointed with a Top 5 All-Time Performance let alone a Top 10 All-Time Performance.
Even after Dressel’s 39.90?
I would like to see the list extended to include Jasmine Carlin’s 8:15.54 and Janet Evans’ 8:16.22.
By the end of the summer, Adlington will no longer reside in the Top 20 Performances in history.
Try this.
https://www.usaswimming.org/Home/times/data-hub
U.S. and World Lists
All Time Top Performances
Course: LCM
800 FR Women’s
Show Details
You have an interview of her at the beginning of the video. Interesting to hear about her weekly training schedule at Stanford.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IELi4HFUfuc
All I can say is poor True Sweetser, who has to go head to head with her twice a week.
It sounds like be training partners is good for both of them.
😆 😆 😆 😆
I’m sorry you get so much hate on these forums. I’ve been enjoying your posts since 2012. We don’t agree on everything, but you are knowledgable and a true fan of the sport.
Thanks but honestly it makes me laugh a lot. I’m not even sure there are humans behind that. Probably more automatic robots. That’s hilarious. Anyway you know what I think about these up/downvotes. Absolutely useless in a forum. Just my opinion.
It’s nice to be flattered, but please, don’t pretend that you don’t care. I’m pretty sure that if there would be no reactions on your postings and you had 0-0 vote scores you would lose interest. The only reason you are writing is to be heard. If nobody cares of what you are doing you won’t be here.
Who hurt you growing up?
If nobody votes on your stuff, will you leave?
If there would be nobody left who can keep polite, intelligent and informative conversation it would be no reason to stay here.
Trolling is your forte.
By the way, I’m predicting the downfall of Katinka Hosszú, starting with the backstroke events.
Wishful thinking.
Pot …. kettle …. black.
Yozhik for Pres!
Down votes for this post?
And the math is off for “2nd 400”- back half in Indianapolis was 4:03.5 not 4:04.5
I wouldn’t read too much into the random 29 split from 600 to 650. I believe that split was likely off because of the counter hitting the touchpad hence that 100 split was balanced out with a 31 next 50. She was actually more like high 30’s on those 2 50s