Ready to Forego Her Spot, Katie Ledecky Once Showed Dominance in Swimming With Only the 200m

You can afford some slack when you’re a phenom like Katie Ledecky. The fan/critic-favorite to win several events at the upcoming Paris Games, Ledecky hinted at pulling out of the women’s 200m free race at the 2024 Games, despite winning the event at the Olympic Team Trials. Indianapolis is being subjected to incredible swimming prowess by the athletes, but Ledecky seems to have her focus on bigger fishes to fry.

Ledecky started her journey at the Lucas Oil Stadium with a thunderous performance in the 400m free race, despite the energetic fans causing trouble. Only a day later, she qualified for her second Olympic event. And yet, talks about her forfeiting her spot ran amock. While her decision still awaits a final call, let’s take a look at how things can pan out, while also remembering how this exact event gave her the platform to make ripples in the pool.

Katie Ledecky awed her coaches even almost a decade ago

A recent by USA Today has shared the possibility of Ledecky deciding to step down from the 200m event, despite having qualified for the same at the Team Trials. Referring to her performance in the women’s 200m free, the article states, “she likely won’t be swimming it in Paris.”

As of now, Katie has only three Olympic medals in women’s 200m freestyle events. But the World Championships tell a vastly different story. An article from 2016 by ESPN recounted how the 2015 World Championships saw Ledecky in one of her most expressive selves, after a titular display of stamina and perseverance. At Kazan, Russia, Katie had two back-to-back major races: the 1500m final and the 200m semi-final.

Taking note of the task at hand, Katie’s coach Bruce Gemmell advised her not to pour all her energy into the 1500m race. However, the then 19-year-old wasn’t one to let the magnitude of the responsibility intimidate her. “She looked at me incredulously and said, `That’s not going to happen”,” Gemmell was quoted in the article, recalling how Katie went on to win the 1500m free by staggering margins over her competitors.

However, more amazement awaited the fans as only thirty-two minutes later, Katie qualified for the 200m race as well in sixth place. A day later in the finals, she won the women’s 200m race as well, highlighting how she aspired to become one of the greatest swimmers of all time. And now, she once has the chance to forge her position at the top, as the Paris hope grows ever larger.

More triumphs await

Later this week at the Indianapolis Colts’ NFL stadium, Ledecky will take her shot at qualifying for the 800m and 1500m races for the Paris Games. Considering how Ledecky was the one who made it possible for women swimmers to compete in 1500m events at the Olympics, she will once again take to the starting block as the favorite to win the race. Not only that, she will also fly to Paris as the top contender to bring home gold from the same event. Ledecky is also poised to qualify for the 800m free events as well.

Till today, Katie remains one of the benchmarks in international competitions where her peers cannot seem to overcome their awe of the 27-year-old. Even the likes of Bob Bowman, the celebrity of the iconic Michael Phelps, cannot hide his amazement at Katie’s prowess. “She is very connected, meaning her upper body and lower body work in unison…Therefore, she is very efficient.“, said Bowman about the seven-time Olympic gold medalist. “I think she just kind of amazes herself every once in a while,” said Janet Evans, the former world record holder in the 800m free before Katie, about Ledecky’s dominance.

Now, as more thrilling action awaits swimming fans over the next few days, it remains to be seen if Katie has more steam left in her engines, or if the twilight of her illustrious career can be spotted over the horizon.