Katie Ledecky absolutely dominated the Olympics' first-ever women's 1,500-meter freestyle to win gold
Katie Ledecky is officially the first-ever women’s 1,500-meter freestyle Olympic champion, and even though it was a feat the swimming world could have easily predicted based on her previous performances, it was still an exciting and historic moment.
Ledecky controlled the entire race and won with a time of 15:37.34 on Wednesday morning at the Tokyo Olympics (Tuesday night in the U.S.).
The 1,500 free, also known as the mile, is Ledecky’s best event, and she’s dominated it for years in international meets. Until these Olympics, the mile wasn’t offered to women, but in a massively overdue update, it was added to the Olympic lineup in 2017, and it debuted in prelims earlier this week.
And now Ledecky is the first Olympic gold medalist in the women’s 1,500, earning her eighth Olympic medal and her sixth gold.
OLYMPIC HISTORY IS MADE@katieledecky wins the first-EVER Olympic gold medal in the women's 1500m free and teammate Erica Sullivan wins the silver.@TeamUSA x #TokyoOlympics #OlympicHERstory pic.twitter.com/fTLlcWFgEg
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2021
Fellow American Erica Sullivan won silver with a time of 15:41.41 — about four seconds behind Ledecky — and Germany’s Sarah Kohler won bronze at 15:42.91. After the race, Ledecky jumped over the lane marker to hug Sullivan, who competed one lane above her.
Ledecky had a slim .19-second lead after the first 50 meters and never looked back. At the 750-meter halfway point, she stretched her lead to 2.87 seconds, and NBC began measuring her lead by meters instead of seconds. That’s dominance.
Amazingly, Ledecky began swimming to this incredible victory about 70 minutes after racing in the 200-meter freestyle final and taking fifth.
Her 1,500 free world record of 15:20.48 from 2018 still stands.
All the emotions.@katieledecky x #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/FW65Puceb2
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2021
Making history together.#TokyoOlympics | #OlympicHERstory pic.twitter.com/FCSd4sptN1
— #TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2021
In prelims of the new event, the Olympic record was set first by Canada’s Katrina Bellio at 16:24.37 in the opening heat, and after repeatedly being lowered through the heats, Ledecky set it at 15:35.35 ahead of the final.
Ledecky entered this final with four of the top-5 fastest times in the world this year and 16 of the top-20 times ever in the 1,500 free. That level of dominance is unparalleled, and Ledecky reminded the world why she’s the absolute best in this event with her final in Tokyo.