Calgary Herald

American swimmer Ledecky continues to make big splash

Olympic gold medallist keeps setting new standard in 500-yard freestyle

- KELYN SOONG

Here’s your periodic reminder that Katie Ledecky is a freak of nature.

On Thursday night, the fivetime Olympic gold medallist and freshman at Stanford lowered her American record in the 500yard freestyle in an unreal time of 4:25.15 at the Pac-12 Championsh­ips — more than 10 seconds faster than the second place finisher.

To put the time in perspectiv­e, NBC Sports noted that the 19-yearold Ledecky’s time is faster than when Ryan Lochte — one of the best male swimmers of all time — was the same age.

That’s not entirely accurate, as Lochte swam slightly faster as a 19-year-old college sophomore at Florida, according to his college bio, but Ledecky’s time is faster than any time Lochte swam in the event until then. Lochte’s fastest 500-free time as a college freshman was 4:25.85 and he swam a 4:25.54 as a 17-year-old high school senior in 2001.

Ledecky, who took a gap year after graduating from high school to focus on the Rio Olympics, now owns the top ten times in the event.

“I felt good. I felt coming in that I could do something like that,” Ledecky told the Pac-12 Network. “I was just really excited with how (Stanford’s) been doing and we had a lot of swimmers in that (race), so it kind of just felt like practice and we were just really relaxed and ready to go.”

Ledecky’s previous American record of 4:26.46 came in October.

In the video of Ledecky’s race Thursday, she finishes before any of her competitor­s are even in view in the video captured by television cameras — an increasing­ly common sight when Ledecky’s in the pool.

 ?? DAVID J. PHILLIP / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Five-time Olympic gold medallist Katie Ledecky of Stanford continues to excel in the pool, establishi­ng a new standard of 4:25.15 in the women's 500-yard freestyle at the Pac-12 championsh­ips.
DAVID J. PHILLIP / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Five-time Olympic gold medallist Katie Ledecky of Stanford continues to excel in the pool, establishi­ng a new standard of 4:25.15 in the women's 500-yard freestyle at the Pac-12 championsh­ips.

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