Introduction
There may not have been a more clear favourite in any event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris than Katie Ledecky’s 1500-metre freestyle. The long-distance expert won the 1500m in its inaugural Tokyo competition and holds the record for the 19th fastest time in the event’s history. It wasn’t a matter of whether Ledecky would win the race, but rather by how much, as pictures from the event frequently go viral and feature her far ahead of her rivals.
Ledecky tied swimming legend Jenny Thompson for the most Olympic gold medals won by an American woman with her final time of 15:30.02, an Olympic record and ten seconds faster than the next competitor. She also shared the record for the most medals ever won by a woman from the United States (12) with Thompson, Natalie Coughlin, and Dara Torres.
After the race, the distance swimmer gave some thought to the achievement. “I try not to think too much about the past,” she remarked, “I know the names of the people I grew up with.” When I started swimming, I looked up to these people. I am appreciative of them for motivating me. I’ve received a lot of support from excellent swimmers to get to this point.”
Unexpectedly, and as a prelude to what was to come, Coughlin was present to formally inaugurate the swimming session with “les trois coups” (a pre-event custom before the Paris 2024 events).
The race got underway as scheduled, with Ledecky breaking her world record by 11 seconds at the 500-metre mark. After breaking the record in 2013, she reset it five more times.
The race for second place was thrilling at the 500-metre mark, though. Anastasia Kirpichnikova of France, Simona Quadarella of Italy, and Isabel Gose of Germany were almost tied for first place.
Ledecky was still ahead of the Olympic record pace with 400 metres to go, but she had dropped six seconds below her world-mark pace. She routinely turned in lap times in the 31-second area, demonstrating her absolute dominance. Meanwhile, Gose and Quadarella fought for bronze, with Kirpichnikova comfortably in second place.
Ledecky was clearly in the lead as the last lap bell rang; the only question was whether she could set a new Olympic record. As soon as she hit the wall, the audience began to yell from a long distance. Her eighth-fastest time at the distance in her career was 15:30.02.
Ultimately, Kirpichnikova of France managed to secure the silver medal, while Gose of Germany finished in third place with a time of 15:41.16.
Already, Ledecky has a medal in the 400-metre freestyle for women. Her next chance to win a medal is this Thursday in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay. Should she succeed, it will mark her thirteenth Olympic medal in her professional career, making her the most decorated female American Olympian in history. Overall, she would only lag behind Michael Phelps (28).
Ledecky’s next chance to win a medal on her own will be in the 800-metre freestyle for women. August 2nd is the date of the preliminary heats; August 3rd is the day of the final.
