7-Time Olympic Gold Medalist Katie Ledecky Breaks Her Own Record at Regional Swimming Meet

Olympic swimming legend Katie Ledecky has already established herself as the most decorated female swimmer of all time. At 25, Ledecky has won ten Olympic medals, seven of which are golds. She has also won 19 world championship gold medals. While a force to be reckoned with, Ledecky is often her own competition in 1000m+ races. Such was the case when the most decorated female swimmer broke her own record at the 2023 Florida Swimming Spring Senior Championships.

The American swimming legend swam at a blistering pace and broke two records simultaneously during the 1650m freestyle race at the meet.

Katie Ledecky outdid herself once again

The 2023 Florida Swimming Spring Senior Championships is turning out to be a historic meet. Katie Ledecky was competing against her own time of 15:03.31 in the 1650 freestyle event. She set the record in 2017 at the Art Adamson Invite. However, few would’ve imagined that the Olympic gold medalist would shatter her own record by nearly 2 sec.

In Florida, Ledecky swam 1650 yards in 15:01.41, breaking her 2017 record and setting a new US Open and American record. Ledecky swam the distance with incredible speed and consistency, completing each split at nearly the same pace. She swam the first 100 in 52.07 and posted under 55 sec splits for nearly the majority of the race and under 56 sec or the final six 100-yard splits.

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The Olympian was so fast she finished the race a minute ahead of second-placed Caroline Pennington. Penington posted a time of 16:08.78. Besides Ledecky, 13-year-old Luka Mijatovic also made history, shattering the national age group record after posting 15:00.95 in the boys 11-14 1650-yard freestyle event.

Can’t stop breaking records

The 25-year-old swimmer is showing no signs of slowing down. Last year at the FINA Swimming World Cup, Ledecky set a new record on the world stage when she posted a 15:08.24 run at the 1500m event. She smashed the previous world record of 15:08.24 set by Germany’s Sarah Wellbrock in 2019 by 10 seconds.

A few days after her world record 1500m run, Ledecky broke another record set in 2013 by Spanish swimmer Mireia Belmonte. During the World Cup, the American set a new world record in the 800m freestyle event, posting a time of 7:57.42, 2 seconds less than Belmonte’s time. Only time will tell how many more records Ledecky breaks.

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What did you make of Katie Ledecky’s historic 1650m freestyle run? Write your thoughts in the comments.