Katie Ledecky shattered the world record in the short-course 1500m freestyle by nearly 10 seconds in her first time racing the event in a 25-meter pool at a FINA World Cup meet in Toronto.
Ledecky won the 30-lap race in 15 minutes, 8.24 seconds on Saturday, prevailing by 40.58 seconds and easily breaking the world record of 15:18.01 set by German Sarah Wellbrock (née Köhler) in 2019.
“When something hurts that much you want to see a great result like that,” Ledecky said, according to FINA.
Ledecky already owns the world records in the 800m and 1500m frees in Olympic-size pools, which are 50 meters long.
Ledecky and some other top Americans rarely race in 25-meter pools. This was Ledecky’s second meet in a short-course meters pool since the start of 2014, according to USA Swimming’s database.
“I didn’t know what to expect coming into this meet,” Ledecky said Friday. “I don’t really have a good sense of what good short-course times are for me right now.”
On the meet’s first day on Friday, Ledecky was edged in the 400m free by 16-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh by eight hundredths of a second. They swam the second- and third-fastest times in history, trailing only China’s Li Bingjie, who earlier this week broke Australian Ariarne Titmus’ world record.
All four swimmers could be in the field come next summer’s world championships and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“There’s great competition in my events right now,” Ledecky said. “I know I need to get better.”
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