Katie Ledecky Thrilled at Her Latest ‘Race of the Century’
Not much gets by Katie Ledecky. Not in the pool, and not in matters surrounding the pool.
So when Ledecky took to the podium after winning the 800 free at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships Saturday night in Singapore and got ready to field the inevitable question about whether it was the “race of the century,” Ledecky had a sly riposte ready.
“I think I’ve been a part of a ‘race of the century’ maybe six times in the last decade,” Ledecky quipped.
She isn’t wrong, and Ledecky’s stardom exerts a very stellar kind of gravity that attracts attention and bodies to her. If Ledecky, the dominant force in women’s distance swimming for the last decade, seems regularly embroiled in races of the insert-time-period-here, it’s because she inspires them.
The chasers are now old enough to have grown up idolizing Ledecky, who is 28 but has been swimming at the elite level for nearly half her life. That includes 800 bronze medalist Summer McIntosh, 18, and Lani Pallister, the silver medalist in the 800 at age 23 who recalled watching U.S. Nationals in person in 2014 and seeing Ledecky break a world record in the 400 free.
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We are in the midst of a golden age of female distance swimming – whether it’s the expansion of the sub-4-minute club in the 400 free with Li Bingjie, Erika Fairweather and Pallister or an 800 field so deep that the European record for Simona Quadarella was only worthy of fourth place Saturday. McIntosh has spiked the mix, with her run at the world records in the 400 free and 800 free this spring and her quest for five individual golds, which she’s downcast about falling short of. That is by no means solely Ledecky’s doing, but she plays a clear role in helping accelerate it.
Katie Ledecky; Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
“Moving forward, it’s going to be an amazing few years,” Ledecky said. “Can’t wait to see what she can do. Can’t wait to see what Ariarne (Titmus) can do. You guys are probably going to be training together, so that’s pretty cool. And I think there’s just a high level of respect that we all have for each other, the Australian team, the USA team. We have a lot of swimmers in the same events at the top level. It brings the best out of each other. It keeps us all on our toes. And that’s what you want. That’s what you want for the sport.”
Ledecky has had a few ROTC (not the military training program) candidates through the years. The 200 free in Tokyo was one, with Titmus, Siobhan Haughey, Penny Oleksiak, Ledecky and Federica Pellegrini, Olympic medalists all. Ledecky finished fifth there. The tripartite showdown of Titmus, McIntosh and Ledecky in the 400 free in Paris fit the bill again. Ledecky’s domination in the higher distances always prevented the 1,500 from being that; when you hold the top 24 times in history before Quadarella intervened this week, it doesn’t lend itself to much belief that you’ll be beaten. Not that winning the 800 free world title an unprecedented seven times leaves much of a window for others.
Ever a student of her craft, Ledecky isn’t one to elevate her presence above the ones that inspired her ascent in the sport.
“I mean, it’s up to you guys to say what is the race of the century or the race of the meet,” she said. “I grew up watching (Michael) Phelps and (Ryan) Lochte and Katie Hoff and Kate Ziegler. I even had some really great races with Lotte Friis back in 2013. So who’s to say one race is better than the other? I think there are always really close races at this level of a competition, and that’s what you want.”
Ledecky isn’t one to get to wrapped up in the external factors – not expectations or standards or other people’s aspirations for her swimming. As she told graduates at Stanford’s commencement, she’s focused on swimming her race and urged them to do the same, without worry about others’ progress.
Katie Ledecky isn’t driven by the quest to add to her nine gold and 14 total Olympic medals for numerical sake. She’s not out there chasing additions to the 23 World Championships and 30 Worlds medals just to make the numbers look bigger. It’s about the process of working, improving and enjoying the satisfaction thereof.
So her excitement about the 800 wasn’t in how others perceived the race. It was in how she looked forward to being tested and how she could respond to that test.
“This is my favorite event,” she said. “It was my first gold. Even in practice, if I’m doing 800s, I kind of tell myself that. I kind of have this fake rule that I don’t lose 800s. So whenever we’re doing 800s in practice, that’s when I really try to get up there with Bobby (Finke), and I tell myself that.
“It’s my favorite event. It probably always will be. I love the mile as well. But you know, the first event that you do something special in is always going to mean a little more. And yeah, I’m happy with this.”
