This was Ledecky's second world record-breaking swim of the FINA World Cup 2022, following her 1500 freestyle record-breaking performance at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.
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America’s champion long distance swimmer Katie Ledecky shattered the 800m Freestyle world record in the short course by nearly two seconds in Indianapolis in FINA World Cup 2022 in the United States. Ledecky was approximately three seconds ahead of the world record mark at one point in the race, but she eventually reached the line at 7:57.42. She broke the previous record set by Mireia Belmonte of Spain at the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona of 7:59.34.
Ledecky led from the beginning, maintaining a world record pace throughout the entire race and wasn’t bothered by her rivals, just like she did in her record-breaking 1500m swim. Only Summer McIntosh of Canada, who eventually finished in second place, was still within striking distance of Ledecky at the end of the race. McIntosh was the only competitor to stay within touching reach of Ledecky.
“I was putting some pressure on myself after my swim in Toronto. I wish I had done it in Toronto. It’s always nice when you can hear a little bit of the crowd. It’s a fun way to start the fall and kick off the season,” Ledecky said to FINA, the world swimming governing body. “We usually don’t get the season started with an international level meet so it’s a little different for me,” she added.
This was Ledecky’s second world record-breaking swim of the FINA World Cup 2022, following her 1500 freestyle record-breaking performance at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. Her 800 split in that race was 8:00.58, just 1.3 seconds behind than Belmonte’s world record. The athlete, who has ten Olympic medals under her possesion, finished with a timing of 15:08.24, shaving over ten seconds off the previous mark set by Germany’s Sarah Wellbrock (15:18.01) in 2019. Ledecky claimed the gold ahead of Laila Oravsky of Canada, who finished third in 16:16.86, and Beatriz Dizotti of Brazil (15:48.82).
Popularly known as Katie, Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky holds the record for the most gold medals ever won by a female swimmer with 19 world championship golds and seven Olympic golds. Ledecky established records in women’s swimming with her six individual gold medals at the Olympics and her 22 overall (14 individual gold medals) at the World Aquatics Championships. Ledecky owns the long-course and short-course world records in the women’s 800 and 1500-meter freestyles, and she formerly held the record for the 400-meter freestyle (long course).
