Katie Ledecky and Gretchen Walsh broke their own world records on the last day of a Tyr Pro Series meet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on Saturday.
Ledecky swam the fastest time in history in the 800m freestyle, her trademark event, for her first world record in any event in a 50-meter pool in seven years.
Ledecky clocked 8 minutes, 4.12 seconds on Saturday at a Tyr Pro Swim Series meet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Her previous record of 8:04.79 was from the 2016 Rio Olympics.
She was under world record pace through 400 meters, then fell behind at the 450m and 500m splits before going back under at 550m. She was seven hundredths under the pace at 700m before powering home to break it by 67 hundredths.
SWIMMING: Full Results
Before this, Ledecky’s most recent world record in any event in a 50-meter pool (used at most major meets) was in May 2018 in the 1500m freestyle. She has broken a world record 15 times in 50-meter pools, including six times in the 800m free (the first time in 2013). She also broke two world records in 25-meter pools in 2022.
She now owns the 10 fastest times in history in the 800m free, followed by Canadian Summer McIntosh with a personal best of 8:09.86.
Up until February 2024, Ledecky had a 50-plus-meet win streak in the 800m free with the top 29 times in history (if also including 800-meter splits in 1500m free races). Then McIntosh snapped the streak and broke up Ledecky’s ownership of the all-time list.
Ledecky won the last four Olympic gold medals in the 800m free, starting at London 2012 when she was 15 years old. In 2028, she can become the second person to win gold in the same individual Olympic event five times after Cuban wrestler Mijain Lopez.
Earlier at the Fort Lauderdale meet, Ledecky swam her second-fastest times ever in her two other primary events — Thursday’s 400m free (her best time in nine years) and Wednesday’s 1500m free (also the second-best time in history among all swimmers).
“It’s almost like, if the season was over now, I’d be happy,” she said Friday. “Just kind of swimming with no expectations. I think that’ll be important for the rest of the season as well coming off of this.”
Also Saturday, Gretchen Walsh lowered her 100m butterfly world record twice — in the morning preliminary heats and evening finals. More on Walsh’s world records here.
Next up are the U.S. Championships from June 3-7 in Indianapolis, where the team will be determined for the world championships in July and August in Singapore.
There will be more women’s quota places than men’s quota places at the Olympics for the first time.