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INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, June 29. OLYMPIC gold medalist Katie Ledecky let the world know that she keeps a close eye on the world rankings when correcting Rowdy Gaines at the Arena Grand Prix in Mesa. Tonight, she proved it by besting the world-leading time in the women's 1500-meter freestyle swim at the U.S. Nationals and World Championship Trials this evening.
Ledecky pushed the pace hard early, out under world record pace through 700 meters. She obviously had Jazmin Carlin's world-leading time of 15:47.26 from yesterday in her sights, and she did just enough to get to the top of the heap with a 15:47.15.
The time proved to be historic tonight. She became the second-fastest American behind Kate Ziegler's 2007 world record of 15:42.54. She also became the fastest 16-and-under swimmer ever by blasting the previous mark of 15:52.10 set by legendary Janet Evans back in 1988. Not only was that the meet record, it also stood for 25 years as the 15-16 U.S. National Age Group record in the metric mile, and for 19 years as the world record. Ledecky also shot to fourth in the all time rankings behind Ziegler, Alessia Filippi (15:44.93) and Lotte Friis (15:46.30) in the process.
1 Ledecky, Katie 16 Nation's Capital 16:04.58 15:47.15N 985 20
r:+0.70 28.78 1:00.01 (31.23)
1:31.12 (31.11) 2:02.36 (31.24)
2:33.81 (31.45) 3:05.41 (31.60)
3:36.99 (31.58) 4:08.49 (31.50)
4:40.08 (31.59) 5:11.72 (31.64)
5:43.37 (31.65) 6:15.28 (31.91)
6:47.06 (31.78) 7:18.93 (31.87)
7:50.61 (31.68) 8:22.61 (32.00)
8:54.52 (31.91) 9:26.36 (31.84)
9:58.07 (31.71) 10:30.27 (32.20)
11:02.27 (32.00) 11:34.29 (32.02)
12:06.40 (32.11) 12:38.44 (32.04)
13:10.61 (32.17) 13:42.64 (32.03)
14:14.27 (31.63) 14:46.34 (32.07)
15:17.97 (31.63) 15:47.15 (29.18)
Mission Viejo's Chloe Sutton raced into second with a 16:07.75, clipping her personal best of 16:07.83 from the Charlotte UltraSwim. She and Ledecky will serve as Team USA's 1-2 punch in the women's distance freestyle events as Sutton took second behind Ledecky throughout the 400, 800 and 1500 freestyle events.
Open water star Haley Anderson of Trojan took third in 16:12.29, while NBAC's Gillian Ryan finished fourth in 16:19.20. SoNoCo's Alicia Mathieu jumped to fifth out of the earlier heats with a 16:19.62, while Clearwater's Becca Mann (16:24.83), Mission Viejo's Ashley Twichell (16:25.87) and Club Wolverine's Emily Brunemann (16:27.19) also made the top eight podium this evening.
