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Katie Ledecky swam in lane seven in the final of the 200 freestyle, giving her the opportunity to see her major opponents as she breathed to her right on the final 50 meters. The result was her first world title in the event with a 1:55.16.
“That was a little bit of an advantage that I had,” she said. “I knew I could take advantage of it and get my hand on the wall first.”
Listen To Interview On Swimming World Radio
Ledecky had a much easier time today, only swimming 200 meters in the evening session as opposed to her epic 1700-meter duties on Tuesday. She said the lighter schedule and a free morning from racing gave her a bit of added confidence going into the 200 free final.
“I recovered well from yesterday, and felt really good coming into tonight,” she said, “so I knew I could put together something.”
Ledecky has the opportunity to become the first person to win four freestyle gold medals at a world championships, something she was aware was a possibility until very recently. But she said it put a little more juice into her training and motivated her to accomplish the goal.
She’s made major gains on the 200 freestyle in three years, from finishing ninth in the 200 free at the 2012 Olympic Trials (missing the final by .02) to winning the gold medal at worlds tonight. At first, the goal was just a spot on the 800 free relay, and that changed to swimming the individual 200 free sooner than she might have expected.
“It’s pretty special to swim that 200 (free) here,” she said. “It was an honor to be in a heat like that.”
BRAVO KATE 🙂 🙂 🙂
Nice when people make their own luck… 🙂
Katie, it’s not luck. It’s all the hard work, training, talent.
Luck? She swam the fastest. Who cares how it compares to people who decided not to swim the event or who have swum the event faster in the past? This is not the first article I’ve read trying to downplay Katie’s 200 win. Her hard work, determination, and her talent got her there. Period. Swimming World, of all “people”, should know that.
Luck! Is winning the lottery….swimming is hours of training and dedication!!!! Good job Katie
Lucky? What a silly title. She’s easily the most dominating women’s distance swimmer in the history of our sport. Lucky would be me if I beat her heads up, but Katie makes her own luck. Great swims Katie!
Go Katie!! No luck, pure talent and hard work!
All,
I used the word “luck” in the headline to refer to getting a lane in the final in which she was able to see the field on the final 50 meters. She breathes on her right side, so she was able to keep sight of the field all the way to the finish. Had she been in lane three or two, she would have been breathing away from people like Federica and Missy.
I was not out to imply that there was luck involved in the strategy or execution or outcome of the race. Most freestylers will tell you — as Katie did during the interview — that is helps to be able to see the competition at a crucial point in the race. So, she got “lucky” that she qualified fifth for the final, instead of fourth or sixth.
Katie might have won the race even if she wasn’t able to see Federica or Missy on the final 50, but it certainly helped.
Poor choice of words in my opinion. You could have said what you wanted to in another way