Katie Ledecky, unmatchable in 1,500 freestyle, wins 22nd swimming worlds gold
The American swimming star challenged her own unmatchable world-record pace for the first two-thirds of the 1,500-meter freestyle final Tuesday at the swimming world championships in Singapore, cruising to another gold medal in her signature event.
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Ledecky finished in 15:26.44, the fifth-best time in the event's history.
The win delivered her 22nd world championship gold medal and extended a 15-year streak of perfection in the 1,500. She hasn't lost a race at that distance since she was 13, and she's won all six world title races in which she's competed since 2013. She's two-for-two at the Olympics as well — the 1,500 was added to the women's program for the 2021 Tokyo Games.
It was closer than normal this time for Ledecky, who won her previous four world championship finals by over 10 seconds each. Italy's Simona Quadarella turned in a sparkling 15:31.79 to win silver and break Ledecky's hold on the top 24 times in the event's history — Quadarella's time is the 12th-best ever. Australia's Lani Pallister took bronze in 15:41.18.
'Each one has meaning, and I love every race that I've had,' Ledecky said in an interview with Peacock. 'Yeah, the 1,500 means a lot to me, and I wasn't going to give that one up tonight.'
The 28-year-old Ledecky's dominance in the 1,500 is staggering. She has reset the world record in the event six times, most recently in 2018 at a Pro Swim Series event in Indianapolis in 2018. Her 15:20.48 that day is over 18 seconds better than anyone else has ever posted.
And she's still near that form seven years later. In a Pro Swim Series event in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in April, Ledecky posted a 15:24.51 in the 1,500 — her second-best time ever in the event. On Tuesday, she jumped out well ahead of record pace early before slipping behind at 1,300 meters.
The race was the second of three individual events for Ledecky this week in Singapore. She took bronze in the 400-meter freestyle won by history-seeking Canadian star Summer McIntosh on Sunday. Later this week, Ledecky and McIntosh will meet again in the 800-meter freestyle in one of the most anticipated races of the meet.
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Ledecky now has 28 total medals at the world championships, second only to Michael Phelps' 33. The only two 1,500-meter world titles she hasn't won since 2013 were in 2019, when she withdrew before the final due to illness, and in 2024, when she skipped worlds to focus on Olympic preparation.
Also Tuesday, in the men's 200-meter freestyle final, Romania's David Popovici rallied with a strong last 50 meters to beat American Luke Hobson to the wall and take gold. Popovici swam the final leg in 26.4 seconds to pass Hobson and back up his gold medal in the event at the Paris Olympics. Japan's Tatsuya Murasa took bronze in 1:44.54.
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