Katie Ledecky, coming down from altitude training for the 2016 Pro Swim Series at Austin, broke the World Record in the women’s 800 meter freestyle on Sunday swimming an 8:06.68.
Above is the video of Ledecky’s mind-boggling swim, courtesy of USA Swimming.
Report below by Robert Gibbs:
Sure, it would’ve been fun to see Katie Ledecky swim the 200 IM tonight after she qualified for the A-final by finishing seventh in the preliminaries. Watching her set yet another world record was even more fun.Ledecky capped off the final night of the 2016 Austin Pro Series meet with her most impressive swim of an impressive meet for her, as she broke her own world record in the 800 freestyle in 8:06.68, lowering the record time of 8:07.39 she set last summer at Kazan.
When asked after the race when she knew that she had a shot at the record, she made it clear it had been in her head going into the race, she replied, “I knew from the start that if I put it together the right way, I could have a pretty good swim.”
One one hand, describing a world record swim as “pretty good” is like describing the Mona Lisa as a “doodle.” On the other hand, we’re running out of superlatives to describe Ledecky’s swims, so “pretty good” works as well as anything else.
That’s the fourth time she’s broken the record. Here’s that progression:
| Time | City | Date |
| 8:13.86 | Barcelona | 08/03/2013 |
| 8:11.00 | Shenandoah | 06/19/2014 |
| 8:07.39 | Kazan | 08/08/2015 |
| 8:06.68 | Austin | 01/17/2016 |
All together, Ledecky has lowered the world record by over seven seconds in 29 months. It took 26 years to lower the world record by seven seconds to 8:13.
There should defiantly be a 1500 for girls I bet Katie would set a world record for that too.
MarkB — thank you for that first hand account of the 100 fly at Brown Deer. I remember too the old digital clocks that would run a second or two holding that suspense!
Would love it if SwimSwam did a historical piece on these memorable single performances. Of course two others that are a given on top of Biondi’s epic relay split. The men’s 1976 Olympic 1,500 meter free final (which was so great a book was written about it) and Bruce Hayes vs. The Albatross anchor leg in the 4×200 1984 Olympic relay.
She is truly one of the world’s best swimmers and she’s only a teenager! What a superb athlete. She brought swimming into new heights.
She’ll go 1:53/3:56/8:03 in Rio and 1:52/3:54/7:59 by the time she retires.
This young lady has revolutionalized the women’s freestyle events. I wouldn’t have it beyond her to break 8 mins before her career is done and that would be for swimming what the 4 minute mile was for running !
No, it would be more like a 3:30 mile. When Bannister broke the four minute barrier, training for track and field events was not very sophisticated compared to today. It was 60 years ago…..
Today’s training for swimming is very sophisticated, especially compared to training methods 60 years ago.
Who on earth will beat this young lady? She is dominant and getting more so every year. She’s untouchable from 400 meters on up with the 200 next.
You gotta sorta feel for the other women in the race, or in any of Ledecky’s races, for that matter. Any woman who can swim an 800 LCM free in the 8:30’s is an incredible athlete. An 8:32, say, might be the glorious apotheosis of a really outstanding career. It takes physical talent, a great stroke, dedication, years and years of training, and a lot of guts to get to that level.
And yet, go that time in a race where Ledecky goes an 8:06, and you look as if you’re competing in a different event. You look almost….silly. It’s not fair.
Can you publish her splits (50s)?
https://twitter.com/USASwimStats
Probably the three greatest single races for me now are Jonty Skinner’s 100 free in Philly in ’76, Mary T’s 200 fly at Brown Deer and this one. All three just mind boggling in their current contexts.
I think the 100 Fly in Brown Deer was better. She totally skipped the 58’s and went 57.9. She went a 59 in prelims (close to the WR in about a size 40 nylon suit). The year before Mary T went a 2:06.3 so only dropped .4 in the 200 in a year.
But on the other hand 2:06 way (and is) way more impressive to start with. Even going the same time would have been amazing, but improving it made it truly legendary. Mary T’s 100 fly record before the 57 was not nearly so impressive.
As someone who wasn’t alive back then, the 2:06, and at the age she did it, is still stunning to me. Yes, swimmers have since gone much faster….but only a few, and not consistently. Just a few outliers. A 2:06 would probably still medal.
This is a cool debate for readers & SwimSwam staff. I think special is in part the conditions & also the endurance of time. For this record, how great it is isn’t up to Katie. Kids will look at her records as a standard that isn’t impossible and shoot for it. Whether anyone else can get there in 3, 5, 10 or more years is anyone’s guess. Katie’s great record is the thing for us today. But here are some of yesterday’s reminders.
How stupid good was Jonty Skinner’s 49.4 in 1976? Super stupid. The Kelly municipal pool in Philly where that nationals meet was held was an AWFUL facility. Not deep anywhere, poor gutters and they said the shallow… Read more »
Thanks for a nice conversation and history. Just like records there’s lots of good conversations, some just stand out a bit more than others.
I was at the 76 nationals in Philly and though the pool was awful, it was pretty typical of that era. The highlight of the meet for me was meeting Mark Spitz and a goofy 12 year-year-old named Sippy Woodhead who would shock the swimming world 2 years later with 5 medals at the Berlin World Championships. And oh yea, Jonty Skinner’s swim was incredible to watch. I also agree that Mary T’s swim in Brown Deer was one of the greatest ever. When we used to go to the summer meet at the Lakeside pool/quarry, it was easy to see she would go on to great things.
I understand what all of you all are saying about Mary T.’s 200 Fly. But I was talking about the record at the time – not how it lasted so long (T. was just 16 so we figured she’d break 2:00 before she was done – seriously!). I remember the fans and swimmers clapping for the 2:05.9 and seeing Mary smile (but not be overjoyed since she worked so hard and “only” dropped .4). After the 100 Fly, the place was stunned. I’ve never seen it before or since. The clock at the Schroeder pool has a lag so when you finish, it continues for a second or two, then drops back to the real final time. When it went… Read more »
Matt Biondi’s split on the men’s 4×100 free relay at the 1985 PanPacs. 47.66. In a brief, goggles and no cap.
He won the 100 in 49.17. Nobody had been under 49 flat start. I think there’d been a couple flying start 48’s but not many. Nobody had ever been anywhere near 48-low, let alone 47-mid.
He annihilated the field. Crushed everyone.
FYI, I think Ledecky’s 800 in Rio is going to be staggering. I think she wants to go under 8 minutes and I think she can. I’m not sure about her 200; I think she’ll be 1:53-low. Her 400 will be around 3:56 and I really do believe she’ll be able to go a 7:59 – or better(!)… Read more »