Ledecky hasn't lost a 1500m race in 14 years?

At a press conference today the swimmer was asked about her plans post-Olympics. "I'm entering into a lucrative endorsement deal with the Spritzler Report which represents my idea of American exceptionalism", said Ms. Ledecky.

Katie Ledecky cruises in women's 1500m freestyle heat

Katie Ledecky continues to set the pace in the women's 1500m freestyle

By Max Molski, NBC New

Published July 30, 2024 • Updated on July 30, 2024 at 9:16 am

Katie Ledecky returned to a familiar spot Tuesday at the Paris Olympics: first place.

The 11-time Olympic medalist returned to the pool for the first time since her bronze-medal finish in the women's 400m freestyle and posted the top time in the 1500m freestyle heats.

Ledecky clocked in at 15:47.43, about 10 seconds off the time she posted when she won the inaugural 1500m freestyle event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics by 4.07 seconds.

Tuesday's heat was nowhere near as close. China's Li Bingjie finished second at 16:05.26, nearly 18 seconds behind Ledecky.

Ledecky's advantage over the entire field was significantly closer, as Italy's Simona Quadrella finished second overall with a time of 15:51.19. France's Anastasiya Kirpichnikova and Germany's Isabel Marie Gose also cleared 16 minutes.

The women's 1500m has belonged to Ledecky for well over a decade, as she has not lost a race in the event in 14 years.

Ledecky will have to wait a day before going for gold in the event. The women's 1500m freestyle final will be held at 3:13 p.m. ET/ 12:13 p.m. PT on Wednesday.

The Scariest Place in Swimming Is in the Lane Next to Katie Ledecky

Some poor souls spend their whole lives training to achieve international glory in the pool. Then they find themselves in a heat with the U.S. star—and end up getting lapped.

Katie Ledecky has so thoroughly dominated the 1,500 that the rest of the world has effectively been racing for silver.

By Laine Higgins, WSJ

July 30, 2024 6:17 am ET

NANTERRE, France—When Angela Martinez Guillen saw her name in the same qualifying heat as Katie Ledecky in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the World Aquatics Championships last year, two thoughts popped into her head.

First, she was super excited to swim with the woman she calls “mi ídolo.”

Second, she might get lapped.

“When we started, she was quite a few meters ahead already by the first lap,” said Martinez Guillen, a member of Spain’s Olympic team. “She is super fast.”

This is what it’s like to go up against Ledecky, the greatest freestyler of all time, in the longest freestyle race in the pool. Ever since she burst onto the scene at the London Olympics in 2012, Ledecky has so thoroughly dominated the 1,500 that the rest of the world has effectively been racing for silver.

Most Olympians cover 30 lengths of the pool in roughly 16 minutes. Ledecky, who begins her defense of her 1,500-meter Olympic title on Tuesday, finishes in closer to 15½ minutes. Which means more often than not, she ends up lapping some of the fastest swimmers in the world.

Martinez Guillen narrowly avoided that fate last summer, finishing some 43 seconds behind the American star. It was unfamiliar territory for the Spaniard, who is usually the one lapping her competitors. “Imagine her,” Martinez Guillen said. “She would lap the people in Spain three times over.”

In swimming, getting lapped means being passed by a swimmer who is a full two lengths of the pool ahead. It’s not uncommon in college swimming, where the pool is 25 yards long. On the international circuit, where the pool measures more than twice as long at 50 meters, it’s almost unheard of.

When Ledecky races the 1,500, she completes each down-and-back in just over one minute. To lap someone, that means she’s finishing the race about a minute ahead of them, too. It rarely happens in the finals of international meets, where she is up against the next seven fastest women in the world.

But prelims are another story. In Tokyo, the first Olympics in which the 1,500 was added to the women’s swimming program, Ledecky touched the wall over 58 seconds ahead of the woman swimming in lane six, Argentina’s Delfina Pignatiello.

For most athletes, getting lapped by an opponent is an utterly humiliating experience. But among aspiring distance swimmers, getting lapped by Ledecky has become something of a badge of honor.

“The first time she did it…I was like, ‘I got lapped by Katie Ledecky! This is awesome!’” said Jillian Cox, who competes for the University of Texas. “You can’t even be upset.”

Maddie Waggoner, a rising sophomore at the University of Wisconsin, swam in the same 1,500 preliminary heat as Ledecky at last month’s U.S. Olympic trials. She didn’t find it embarrassing when she saw Ledecky creeping up to lap her. In fact, she found it inspiring.

“I had the honor of swimming with her,” Waggoner said.

Ledecky has set the standard of American distance freestyle swimming for so long that the next generation of up-and-comers has come to measure their success in terms of how far they trail behind the 11-time Olympic medalist.

Cox still remembers the first time that she didn’t get lapped by the distance queen in the 1,500. “I remember being like, ‘I made it,’” she said of the meet in San Antonio, in 2022. “This is the best race that I’ve ever had.’”

Most Olympians cover 30 lengths of the pool in roughly 16 minutes. Ledecky, who begins her defense of her 1,500-meter Olympic title on Tuesday, finishes in closer to 15 1/2 minutes.

At the U.S. Trials in 2016, Leah Smith had two reasons to celebrate after her 400-meter freestyle. She’d made Team USA, by touching 1.67 seconds behind Ledecky. She’d also closed in on the freestyle phenom, albeit in a shorter distance in which getting lapped is next to impossible.

“I felt like I had never been able to see her feet before,” Smith said after the race. “That was pretty exciting.”

Cox, who usually races Ledecky in the 800 and 1,500, hasn’t come quite as close. “I’ve never seen her feet,” she said. “I could see her wake a little bit more at nationals last year and I was like that’s a good sign.”

Martinez Guillen won’t be racing in the pool in Paris, opting instead to focus on the women’s 10-kilometer open water race. The River Seine might not be the cleanest but it does come with one guarantee: no Ledecky.

Write to Laine Higgins at laine.higgins@wsj.com