Coverage of the 2015 FINA World Championships is sponsored by Wylas Timing. Visit our coverage page for more.
Coverage of the World Championships is sponsored by Wylas Timing. Visit our landing page for more.
By Jeff Commings, Swimming World Senior Writer
In 2013, Katie Ledecky stepped away from the 200 freestyle at the world championships, citing a very tough double with the 1500 freestyle final as the main reason.
It might have been a good decision, as it kept Ledecky fully focused on obliterating the 1500 free world record in 2013. Her 200 free prowess was put to use on Team USA’s 800 free relay, which won the gold medal.
Two years later, Ledecky is stronger, faster, wiser. With the Olympics about one year away, she’s not shying away from the 200 freestyle this time at the world championships. The 1500 freestyle final – where she is expected to defend her world title – falls about 15 minutes before the semifinals of the 200 freestyle. It is probably the toughest turnaround for any athlete at the meet, with maybe five minutes of recovery after the 1500 free before reporting to the race ready room for the 200 free semifinals.
It will be just one busy day of many for Ledecky in Kazan, Russia, at the world championships. By electing to stay with the 200 free, Ledecky’s only day off at the meet will be the eighth and final day, though she won’t compete in a few prelim sessions and will enjoy a few extra hours of sleep. After qualifying to swim both the 200 free and 1500 free (in addition to the 400 free and 800 free) last summer, Ledecky hasn’t gone through the torment of making the decision alone.
“Right when I qualified for all of those races (at the USA Swimming nationals), I knew it was a discussion I was going to have with Bruce,” Ledecky said, referring to Nation’s Capital Swim Club coach Bruce Gemmell. “If I was going to drop one (event), it was going to have to be the 200 or 1500. At the beginning of the season we decided to go for it, and I’ve been training for it since then.”
Ledecky is on track to win gold medals in all four freestyle events, something no one has done at a world championships. Her male counterpart, China’s Sun Yang, could also win the same four events, making them likely to earn the Swimmer of the Meet award for the second time.
Her focus since graduating from Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Maryland last spring has been solely on training. She said she’s had “one of the best training sessions of my life” since returning from a three-week altitude training camp in Colorado Springs in July, which is raising her confidence even higher for great performances at world championships.
She’ll continue to have that singular focus on training for the next year, as she is deferring enrollment to Stanford University to remain with Gemmell for a big push toward the Olympics. She said she’s going to enroll in some classes at nearby Georgetown University, and will also keep busy with volunteer activities in her community.
“It’s good to focus on swimming and put 100 percent on that, but I am planning some things for the fall so I stay mentally engaged in other things,” she said.
One of her extracurricular activities will involve Bikes for the World, which repairs bicycles and donates them to children in developing countries. She’ll also accept speaking engagements to motivate the youth in her area, both in swimming and in the general public.
“It really keeps everything in perspective,” Ledecky said. “One of the things I’ve enjoyed since the Olympics is all the things that have come my way, and helping people in need in my community.”
