Coming off a gutsy performance at the World Championships, where she battled through illness and rallied to claim gold in her final event of the meet, Katie Ledecky announced on Tuesday that she has joined the Built with Chocolate Milk Campaign. Ledecky revealed she uses chocolate milk as part of her training and recovery programs and joins pro athletes Al Horford (NBA), Sloane Stephens (tennis) and Mirinda Carfrae (triathlon) as a Built with Chocolate Milk team member.
“I’ve been drinking chocolate milk since I was 12 or 13 as part of my recovery and now I’m making the partnership official,” Ledecky said. “I’m excited. Chocolate milk has the perfect ratio of carbs, protein and electrolytes to recover and to help my career. I feel it’s been something that has helped me between races and with recovery during my training.”
Ledecky is coming off a difficult World Championships in Gwangju, Korea, where a stomach virus forced the 15-time world champion to withdraw from the 200 freestyle and 1500 freestyle. Ledecky nearly withdrew from the remainder of the meet, but instead dug deep and opted to race the 4×200 freestyle relay and 800 freestyle. Her second leg on the 4×200 free relay helped the United States to the silver medal behind Australia and she managed to pull away from Italy’s Simona Quadarella over the final lap of the 800 free, which she won for the fourth consecutive time at the World Championships.
There was an indication that Ledecky was not feeling well during her first race of the World Champs when she claimed the silver medal behind Australia’s Ariarne Titmus in the 400 freestyle. Down the final lap, Titmus easily pulled ahead and away from Ledecky, whose typical finishing power was missing. The next day, Ledecky nearly stopped during her prelim of the 1500 freestyle, and her withdraw from the 200 free and final of the 1500 free were deemed prudent decisions as she battled the virus.
“I was happy with how things ended up,” Ledecky said of her triumph in the 800 free. “There were ups and downs, and it’s tough to have that happen. But I was proud of the way I handled it and glad that I never had to deal with it before.”