Katie Ledecky has been making waves at the US Olympic Swimming Team Trials, literally! On the second and third days of the trials, Ledecky qualified in two events for the upcoming Paris Olympics. However, with an old foe sending out a staunch message to her global opponents, Ledecky’s recent hints might make more sense to her fans than the initial flummoxed reactions.

So far, the 27-year-old American has qualified for the 200m and 400m free races at the Team Trials. With Katie Ledecky being one of the most dominant names in the women’s 200m free events, the possibility of her absence in the event in Paris would be a serious blow to the guts for her fans. However, with the Australian swimming trials seeing Ariarne Titmus once again at her best, Ledecky’s decision might be more calculated than previously thought.

The American and the Australian have a long history of intense rivalry that has given their fans numerous memorable moments in the pool. In their last meetup at the Tokyo Olympics, Ariarne walked away from the women’s 200m free as the winner, while Katie Ledecky had to settle for the fifth position. And now, only last week, Titmus once again broke the 200m free world record with 1:52.53 seconds on the clock in Brisbane, reported The Guardian.

On the other hand, despite winning the women’s 200 event in Indianapolis earlier yesterday, Katie Ledecky hinted that she might not be competing in the event at the 2024 Games, and would instead focus on the longer courses to add more medals to her trophy cabinet. Katie recounted the disappointing race from three years ago in her recently released book Just Add Water as well, recalling how the race left her heartbroken about her own performance. However, she will have more things to compensate for the missed opportunity!

Milestones for female swimmers: Katie Ledecky’s quest for Olympic Glory

The 2021 Tokyo Olympics was a historic event for female swimmers from around the world. It was the first time that women were allowed to compete in the 1500m freestyle race as an Olympic event, partially thanks to the extreme tenacity and ability shown by stars like Katie at World Championships throughout the years.

With that, Ledecky also became the first gold-winning female swimmer in the distance, and it is also the event that she will be hoping to qualify for the Parfis Games later this week in Indianapolis. If she can indeed go on to defend her gold at the European Metropolitan, Katie will be part of history books as the first-ever woman to win back-to-back gold medals in the distance competition in two Olympic Games.

On the other hand, Ledecky is also the favorite to win the women’s 800m free as well. While the events from Tokyo continue to haunt Katie, prompting her to incident the 200m race as “…a blow“, she can finally put the ordeal behind her and look forward to achieving a feat that has never been done before in documented history. Now, only time will tell if she has what it takes to do so, or if expectations will take a toll on her mental stamina when it will matter.