2022 U.S. WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TRIALS
- April 26-30, 2022
- Greensboro, NC
- Greensboro Aquatic Center
- LCM (50m)
- Start Times: Prelims – 9 am ET / Finals – 6 pm ET
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Now almost ten years removed from her surprise gold medal at the London Olympics, Katie Ledecky has been on a run of excellence arguably unparalleled in the history of the sport. Yet, while she has continued hauling in the gold medals at a prodigious rate, her times have somewhat stalled out over the last year few years.
That’s not unusual for swimmers, especially female distance swimmers, who have historically often plateaued by their early 20s. She’s faced some illness and injury at major events, and with some crazy race schedules, she’s sometimes had to focus on just winning rather than setting world records.
So, while Ledecky had plenty of success during her time at Stanford, it wasn’t too surprising to see her make the move across the country to join a Florida Gator group that has been cranking out the freestyles on the men’s side. It was perhaps more surprising to see how quickly she’s apparently responded to the new training.
Case in point came tonight in the first finals sessions of the 2022 World Championships Trials. Swimming in the fastest 800 free heat, the world record holder looked like the Ledecky of yore, going out in 4:01 and finishing in 8:09.27.
That’s the 6th-fastest performance in history, and perhaps more importantly, that’s the fastest Ledecky has been since the 2018 Pan Pacific Championships, when she went 8:09.13. Of course, Ledecky holds not only the top 6 fastest performances in history, but the top 26. And, according to our resident stat expert, Barry Rezin, Ledecky holds at least the top 28 times, if you factor in the opening 800 split in two of her 1500 performances.
All-Time Top Performances, Women’s 800 Free
- 8:04.79 – 2016 Olympics
- 8:06.68 – 2016 Austin PSS
- 8:07.27 – 2017 Indianapolis PSS
- 8:07.39 – 2015 World Championships
- 8:09.13 – 2018 Pan Pacs
- 8:09.28 – 2022 US World Championships Trials
Ledecky’s 800 Free Races Since 2016 World Record
|
8:21.81
|
PSS – Westmont | 5-Mar-22 |
| 8:11.83 | Speedo Sectionals – Orlando | 10-Feb-22 |
| 8:12.81 | US Open | 1-Dec-21 |
| 8:12.57 | Olympic Games | 24-Jul-21 |
| 8:15.67 | Olympic Games | 24-Jul-21 |
| 8:14.62 | USA Olympic Team Trials – Wave 2 | 18-Jun-21 |
| 8:16.61 | USA Olympic Team Trials – Wave 2 | 18-Jun-21 |
| 8:14.48 | ST TXLA Longhorn Elite | 21-May-21 |
| 8:13.64 | PSS – San Antonio | 6-Mar-21 |
| 8:16.90 | Stanford Invitational | 21-Nov-20 |
| 8:14.59 | US Open | 4-Dec-19 |
| 8:14.94 | PSS – Greensboro | 9-Nov-19 |
| 8:13.58 | 18th FINA World Championships | 27-Jul-19 |
| 8:17.42 | 18th FINA World Championships | 26-Jul-19 |
| 8:10.70 | PSS – Bloomington | 19-May-19 |
| 8:14.24 | PSS – Richmond | 10-Apr-19 |
| 8:14.40 | USA Swimming Winter National Championships | 28-Nov-18 |
| 8:11.98 | Summer National Championships | 25-Jul-18 |
| 8:11.08 | PSS – Santa Clara | 9-Jun-18 |
| 8:07.27 | PSS – Indianapolis | 19-May-18 |
| 8:12.68 | 17th FINA World Championships | 29-Jul-17 |
| 8:20.24 | 17th FINA World Championships | 28-Jul-17 |
| 8:11.50 | Summer National Championships | 27-Jun-17 |
| 8:15.71 | PSS – Atlanta | 7-May-17 |
| 8:15.44 | PSS- Mesa | 15-Apr-17 |
| 8:04.79 | 2016 Olympic Games | 12-Aug-16 |
Interestingly enough, tonight’s time is the fastest Ledecky has been a US selection meet. She’s been faster at three major international meets, as well as a pair of “random” Pro Swim Series meets, but she’s never been faster while qualifying for a spot on a US international team.
Does that mean she’s bound to set some world records in Budapest? Or could tonight’s swim reflect a slightly different approach to training and tapering under the Florida coaching the staff?
Probably the latter, but even if she never sets another world record, the last few months, and tonight in particular, provide great evidence that despite a few bumps over the last few years, Katie Ledecky isn’t going anywhere soon, and is still ready to dominate on the world stage for years to come.
I genuinely believe she’s not done breaking world records. She could break her 800 world record this year she may not. Either way it’s really looking like Katie is enjoying the sport even more now than before. Excited for her.
With Ledecky, words like machine & legend, just rolls of the tongue.
She’s amazing.
The move to Florida was the best thing that could happen to her.
She needed a big motivation boost with new coaches, new training methods, a new training environment….
She’s on track to do another 800/1500 free golden double in 2024. That’s fantastic!
The only message I’m getting from this swim is that we’re likely to see a “return to normal programming” as regards this particular event. By that I mean there being no-one else within the same post-code as Ledecky at the finish.
Whilst (the absent for this year) Titmus arguably is her match at 200 & 400; I cannot realistically see her breaking 8.10 and until someone from the next generation can make that breakthrough; the 2 longer events remain Ledecky’s.
WOW!!! big call, a girl that went 8.13 at the end of huge pressure meet like the Olympics & goes 3.56 for 400, you cannot see her breaking 8.10. Big call!!!!
That’s still 3 seconds plus change away from breaking 8.10 !!
Yes, her PB & silver in Tokyo is very creditable but in this particular event; that position equates to being the current “best of the rest” after Ledecky and it has to be acknowledged Ledecky’s swim was a good way from her best.
Titmus has put herself on the record as saying she doesn’t particularly like the event. If she were to really make the jump that you suggest; she would realistically need to change her focus and target this event specifically. Is she really likely to do so given she’s got better chances in her more favoured events …… and said improvement would still have no guarantee… Read more »
Wow! I expected her to be tired and swim really slow tonight. My 800 prediction was even slower than Mel’s prediction. I am pleasantly surprised. I’m really looking forward to the rest of her swims this week. I hope she does amazing times at Budapest.
Ledecky 8:03 in Budapest.
Honestly I got confused by this race of Katie Ledecky.
I missed very much her smashing the water at the end of the race. And 8:09!! Wow! What else can be wished for the 25 years old long distance swimmer?
But how should we look at her performance today? The failure to complete strongly the second half of the race? Or that is her new approach to 800 event: fly-and-die? Or that is just her training exercise and we don’t have to read much into it?
The last time I saw such a big difference between the first and the second halves of the 800m race was 10 years ago in London: 4:04 – 4:10. But it… Read more »
Almost 8 seconds slower than what? She was less than 5 seconds off her WR.
I think he meant that in her 800m today, the second 400m free was 8 seconds slower than the first 400m (though, if I remember correctly, that number was closer to 7). But it’s Yozhik, so one can never be too sure
Back half 8 seconds slower than front half.
“How can I turn this amazing swim into a negative?” 🙄
That’s the proper way to swim the 800. Demoralize from the front end. Top competitors swim less than their best when that strategy is adopted. Note Grimes never a factor. Ledecky has allowed the first half to remain overly competitive the past few years. She’s not going to finish as strongly as during her absolute prime no matter what she does at the beginning, so that beginning needs to be fast.
Ledecky always emphasizes she knows how to swim the 800. The event remains non-competitive because nobody else is gutsy enough to swim it that way. The world wants to go out in 4:07 and pretend something good will happen.
Overall I though Ledecky’s stroke looked noticeably longer and… Read more »
McIntosh didn’t even swim the 800 a trials.
this front end speed looks like a pretty good indicator of what’s to come in the 200/400 later on