U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 5 Finals: Katie Ledecky to Defend 1500 Free Title; Katie Grimes Adds Another Event in Paris

Katie Ledecky -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Olympic Trials, Day 5 Finals: Katie Ledecky to Defend 1500 Free Title; Katie Grimes Adds Another Event in Paris

Seven years ago, the Olympic event lineups for women and men were equalized for the first time ever, with the addition of the men’s 800 freestyle and women’s 1500 freestyle for the Tokyo Olympic slate. That meant Katie Ledecky, already established as history’s best distance swimmer even though she was just months past her 20th birthday, would get the chance to swim her best event at the sport’s highest level.

Indeed, Ledecky would be the first woman to capture Olympic gold in the 30-lap race. Her cushion over in the event was such that Ledecky swam the 200 free final earlier in the same session and then clocked a time 17 seconds short of her best time — and she was still more than four seconds clear of anyone else in the race. Ledecky when she has been fresh for her 1500-meter championship heats: five world titles, the last four of them by at least 14 seconds.

International rivals, specifically Ariarne Titmus and Summer McIntosh, caught up to Ledecky in the 400 free. Ledecky’s only loss in the 800 free in the last decade-plus came against McIntosh in a local meet in February, but she remains unbeaten on the international level. But in the mile? No one has ever seriously threatened Ledecky’s status in the race. Wednesday evening’s final at the U.S. Olympic Trials would not change that trend.

By 200 meters, Ledecky was more than a bodylength clear of Katie Grimes, with a gap of more than five meters back to the rest of the field. As usual, the rout was on. Her 400-meter split was 4:05.56, which actually would have finished third behind Ledecky and Paige Madden in the 400 free final Saturday evening. Ledecky briefly challenged her own world-record pace through the opening fifth of the race, but she was about four seconds off by the halfway point and never seriously threatened the record after that.

Ledecky touched in 15:37.35, the 16th-fastest time ever and one hundredth behind her winning time from Tokyo. Upon finishing, Ledecky looked nonplussed with her result as she removed her cap and greeted Grimes on the lane line.

“I was just expecting to go a lot faster. The 15:39 yesterday felt pretty easy,” Ledecky said. “Coach (Anthony) Nesty says don’t get greedy. I swam a consistent race. It’s not like I died. Can take some positives away, but I can do better in five weeks.” She added, “I did a good job holding splits, but I didn’t have that next gear that I wanted to have.”

Still, the goal of booking her spot in another event was taken care of, and Ledecky did lower her own world-leading time, which previously stood at 15:38.25. The next-best swimmer in the world rankings is Italy’s Simona Quadarella at 15:46.99, so it’s tough to see anyone making up ground on Ledecky in Paris.

Meanwhile, Grimes was never seriously challenged for the other spot on the team bound for Paris, swimming in second place throughout and never giving back ground to the field, with veteran Ashley Twichell more than 10 meters behind. Grimes touched in 15:57.77, which ranks No. 7 in the world for 2022. Grimes has been as fast as 15:44.89 in her career, which ranks her No. 9 all-time and fourth among Americans.

Grimes adds another event to her already-busy slate for Paris. She previously won the 400 IM two nights earlier and qualified in the 10-kilometer open water swim at last year’s World Championships.

Twichell, a U.S. Olympian in open water in 2021 who returned to competition after giving birth to her first child, finished third in 16:08.07. Kate Hurst used a strong finish to touch out Aurora Roghair for fourth, 16:09.77 to 16:09.79.

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