Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky clocked the second-fastest women’s 1500m freestyle time in history on Wednesday, winning the US Pro Swim Series event in Austin, Texas, with a dominant performance. Ledecky finished in 15 minutes 23.21 seconds, more than a minute ahead of 16-year-old runner-up Brinkleigh Hansen, who touched in 16:31.31.
Ledecky did not threaten her world record of 15:20.48, set in 2018, but used a strong late surge to improve on her previous second-best time of 15:24.51, set at the Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale last April. Since then, she has won her sixth world title in the event at last year’s world championships in Singapore, and both Olympic gold medals since the women’s 1500m freestyle was introduced at Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024.
Now 28, Ledecky, who won her first Olympic gold in the 800m freestyle at the 2012 London Games, shows no signs of slowing as the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics approach. She is the only woman to break 15:30 for the 1500m freestyle, doing so for the 10th time. She owns the top 12 times ever and 24 of the top 25, with Italian Simona Quadarella’s 15:31.79 now the 13th fastest.
In the men’s 1500m freestyle, world record-holder Bobby Finke, Ledecky’s training partner, won in 15:01.70, ahead of Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen, the reigning Olympic 800m champion, who finished second in 15:04.98. Olympic stars Summer McIntosh and Leon Marchand led the way into Thursday’s finals of the 200m individual medley, in which they both hold world records. Canada’s McIntosh touched in 2:09.27 to top the women’s semi-finals, while France’s Marchand led the men’s semi-finals in 2:00.10.
World record-holder Regan Smith of the US won the women’s 100m backstroke in 57.98 seconds, and reigning world champion Anna Elendt of Germany won the women’s 100m breaststroke in 1:06.91.
