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Come Fan with UsSaturday, June 20, 2026

Katie Ledecky set a world record and started lapping people with 20 laps left

Second place was 40 seconds behind her!

James Dator
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.

If you’re in need of a last-minute Halloween costume that will truly terrify people, please consider Katie Ledecky. She tears people apart of a regular basis, with a body count that would make Jason Vorhees blush — and like Cthulu, she doesn’t just destroy you, she beats you so badly it tears you soul from your body.

Just look at the 1500m short-course finals from this weekend at the FINA World Cup to see this in action.

If you don’t want to watch the entire 15 minute race, here are the Cliff’s Notes:

  • Ledecky broke the world record by 9.77 seconds
  • Second place was 40 seconds behind her
  • At the halfway point Ledecky was only one second off pace to break the 800m record WHILE IN A DISTANCE RACE
  • There were still 20 laps to go when she began lapping the field

Ledecky is terrifying in long course swimming, but put her in a short course race as she’s an assassin. These are races in a 25m pool consisting of more laps over the same distance, which rewards turn efficiency and speed off the wall. It’s not like anyone is beating Ledecky with regularity in long course swimming, but in the short pool it’s not even remotely close.

This is the kind of thing swimming horror stories are written about.

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