U.S. Olympic Trials: Katie Ledecky Tops 800 Free with Paige Madden Second
The math isn’t all that complicated. The record for most Olympic swimming medals by an American woman is 12, shared jointly by Natalie Coughlin, Dara Torres and Jenny Thompson.
Katie Ledecky has 10 career Olympic medals. She has this week at U.S. Olympic Trials already sealed her place in the Paris Olympics in the 400 freestyle, the 1,500 freestyle and the 800 freestyle relay.
That means three chances to join American female swimming’s most exclusive club and, perhaps, to make her own little group. Saturday night, she added a fourth chance.
In the OG Ledecky event, the one that dates back to her Olympic debut 2012, Ledecky dominated Saturday night at U.S. Olympic Trials in 8:14.12.
She’ll head to Paris with the fastest time in the world this year in the event at 8:12.94, set in April. Saturday’s performance at Lucas Oil Stadium slots in third in the world. She owns three of the top four times.
It’s Ledecky’s fourth win of the meet. She’s the first woman to win the same event at four straight Olympic trials.
Second place went to Paige Madden, who set a best time of 8:20.71. That’s seventh in the world this year and it’s a best time for Madden by just shy of seven seconds.
Madden was comfortably clear of Jillian Cox, who was second in 8:22.97. (Cox was the only non-Ledecky in the field to have been sub-8:20 before). Fourth was Aurora Roghair, leading fellow 8:28s Rachel Stege and Kate Hurst. Claire Weinstein never mounted a charge, finishing seventh, ahead of only Ashley Twichell, the 35-year-old who set another best time of 8:32.75 in finals
Ledecky was unhappy with her performance in the 1,500, thinking she had more to give. She flirted with her world record pace for the first 300 before falling back.
Ledecky went 8:14.62 to win Trials in 2021, with Katie Grimes edging out Haley Anderson by .15 seconds for her Olympic spot in 8:20.36.
Ledecky went 8:17.70 to lead prelims, but the second spot was wide open with the scratch of Grimes. Seven finalists separated by less than three seconds illustrated that. Of them, only Madden and Weinstein are guaranteed to be on the team. Weinstein has an individual event in the 200 free after finishing second. Madden stands to inherit Ledecky’s spot if Ledecky passes on it as she’s planned.
Such a pity that world’s fastest 800m swimmer Summer won’t contend in this at Paris. Although given the time Ledecky (Leh-Dets-Skee for the majority whom Mispronounce her surname) just posted, Australia’s Titmus may rattle her cage!