10-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky obliterated the world record for the 1,500-meter freestyle two days ago at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. She blew the previous time out of the water and finished the event 9.77 seconds faster than most recent record set in 2019 by Germany's Sarah Wellbrock.
Ledecky said she felt good heading into the race.
“I knew that record was within reach just based on some things I’ve done in training, especially my distance stuff (as it) has felt really good this fall,” Ledecky said. “So I felt locked into the pace.”
According to the Associated Press, one of the biggest reactions from the day was Ledecky crossing the finish line at record pace. The crowd erupted and the 10-time Olympian celebrated when she looked up at the scoreboard.
“Honestly most of that emotion was just because it hurt a lot,” she said. “When something hurts that much, you want to see a great result like that. It was just mostly happiness.
“I felt good and I was very pleased with the outcome.”
Other participants in the event were amazed by Ledecky rewriting the history books two days ago.
“It’s just so unreal to be a part of something so amazing,” said Laila Oravsky, who came in third. “That was the fastest 1,500 that was just swum and I was a part of that. It’s crazy.”
Ledecky revealed after the meet she didn't have too much time to prepare for the meet. She got the result she wanted anyway.
“I didn’t have any super type of preparation for this meet,” Ledecky said. “I just wanted to come in and race some international swimmers. These meets (Toronto and next week in Indianapolis) are on North American soil so I just had fun with it.”
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