Katie Ledecky Swims Faster 800 Freestyle Than Winning Time From Tokyo at Orlando Sectionals; Dressel Beats Andrew in 50 Fly
After winning two gold medals and two silvers at the Tokyo Olympics, Katie Ledecky left her training base at Stanford and moved to Gainesville, Florida, to train with the University of Florida team and coach Anthony Nesty. In the six months after Tokyo, Ledecky swam at only one meet, and she put up a series of impressive times at the U.S. Open in Greensboro in early December. This weekend, she is swimming at a Sectionals meet in Orlando, and her first race saw her surpass her own winning time in the 800 freestyle from the Tokyo Olympics.
Ledecky won the event in 8:11.83, seven tenths faster than the 8:12.57 she swam to hold off Ariarne Titmus for Olympic gold in the event. The time ranks as the 15th-fastest performance of all-time, behind only 14 other performances that Ledecky recorded between 2014 and 2019. The time is exactly two seconds faster than any other swimmer in history has ever recorded as Titmus’ 8:13.83 in Tokyo made her No. 2 on the all-time performers list in the event.
Ledecky barely negative split the race, as she was out in 4:05.98 at the 400-meter mark before closing in 4:05.85. Her closest competition, Sarasota YMCA’s Michaela Mattes, was a full 32 seconds away from the distance ace who is the only woman in history to capture three straight Olympic gold medals in the 800 free and the only American woman to three-peat in any swimming event at the Olympics. Ledecky will compete in the 200, 400 and 1500 freestyle and the 400 IM over the weekend at the Sectionals meet.
Later on in the day, Caeleb Dressel swam his first race of 2021 in the 50 butterfly, and he edged out fellow 2021 U.S. Olympian Michael Andrew, 23.44 to 23.68. Dressel is the reigning world champion in the 50 fly along with the 100 fly, 50 free and 100 free, along with his five gold medals from Tokyo this summer. Additionally, Olympian Natalie Hinds won the women’s 50 fly in 26.35. Hinds competed collegiately for the Gators and returned to training at Florida this year after training at the University of Georgia in the leadup to Olympic Trials.