Audio By Carbonatix
Katie Ledecky made her international swimming debut at the age of 15 at the London Olympics in 2012. She is even faster in the 1500-meter freestyle now, at 28 years old, than she was in 12 of the last 13 years.
Only one time did the most decorated female swimmer in history swim faster!
Ledecky’s dominance is on display every time she enters the pool. Although the nine-time Olympic gold medalist took first place in the 200-meter and 400-meter in Rio, her best events are the 800 and 1500. She is the reigning gold medalist in both swimming events. There is no one better in the 15.
Get this— Ledecky holds the 22 fastest times in history in the event. That includes Wednesday!
The 2025 Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale is the final meet of the season before nationals. It drew some of the top competitors in the world. None of them stood a chance in the Women’s 1500, as per usual.
Katie Ledecky swam 15:24.41 to beat second-place finisher Jillian Cox by almost 40 seconds. Some of her competitors had more than three full (down and back) laps remaining on their swims when the winner touched the wall.
Not only did Ledecky win the race, she beat her own time 21 times over. It was the second-fastest swim of all-time in the 1500. Ledecky went 15:20.48 in 2018. This latest time was more than one full second faster than the third-fastest time in history, which was recorded by Ledecky in 2015.
Most swimmers start to slow down after they cross the 10-year mark of their careers. Katie Ledecky is getting faster.
I’m pretty fired up. I’ve been training really well and feeling good going into this meet, but you never know. It’s not like it’s the biggest meet of the year or anything. I just wanted [my time] to be a season best, which would have been 15:36. I’m pretty ecstatic.
— Katie Ledecky
There is very little question that we will see her at the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 but we don’t know how much longer she will keep this up so we must appreciate her greatness while we can! The greatest of all-time has not lost in the 1500 (or the 800) since 2013. That’s nuts.