The Rio Olympics have been over for months, but there are still swimming pools in the world, and that means Katie Ledecky is still obliterating the competition. Ledecky is now a freshman at Stanford and if the Olympic field was no match for her, collegiate competition basically stands no chance. She proved as much on Saturday when she beat the field in the 1,000-yard freestyle by 35 seconds.
Katie Ledecky still would have won this race if everyone else had a 30-second head start
Here are just a few of the impressive feats Ledecky accomplished in that race.
- Ledecky beat the previous NCAA record — held by Leah Smith of Virginia — by nearly 10 seconds.
- Ledecky beat the 26-year-old pool record by 20 seconds.
- Ledecky swam her 20th and final lap in 26.69. That was her second-fastest lap of the race and a faster lap than anyone else swam.
- Ledecky beat the second-place finisher by 35 seconds.
- Ledecky finished the race seven seconds before anyone else even started the final lap.
- Ledecky did all of this and may not have even been at her best. She also holds the American record in the event at 8:59.65, nearly 11 seconds faster than the 9:10.49 she posted.
She also won the 500-yard freestyle by 14 seconds, just for good measure. The 2020 Summer Olympics are not for another four years, but Ledecky has a lot of fields to lap before then.
See More:
