INDIANAPOLIS — Katie Ledecky’s Olympic selection is continuing to go exactly as she, and everyone else, expected.
Ledecky, the greatest female swimmer of all time, won her third consecutive Olympic title on Wednesday night in the 1,500-meter freestyle, the longest race in the pool, in 15 minutes, 37.35 seconds. She will be the favorite to win gold at the Paris Olympics this summer. Katie Grimes came in second, 20 seconds behind Ledecky.
“I was really excited coming into tonight’s race,” Ledecky told NBC Sports after her win. “I wish I could have been a little faster, but this is good enough. I’ll be better in a few weeks.”
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Ledecky, 27, is unbeaten in the 1,500 meters during her professional career, winning five world titles and en route to becoming the first swimmer in history to win Olympic gold in the event at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Of course, she also holds the world record in a race designed to give her an edge, one that requires strength, stamina and discipline to swim back and forth in a 50-meter pool 30 times.
“I’m really happy with how the meet is going,” Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, said after Tuesday’s 1,500-meter heats. “I’m just taking it one day at a time and doing my best. I’m really happy with how I feel in the water and how I’m progressing day by day.”
She has one event remaining at the U.S. Olympic Trials: the 800-meter freestyle on Saturday.
At the Olympics, Ledecky is likely to win gold medals in both the 800m and 1500m, as well as a bronze medal in the 400m.
She has not yet formally withdrawn from the 200m individual freestyle, which she won here earlier this week – and said that was her plan in Paris – but will compete in the 4x200m relay, another event in which she excels.
Three years ago in Tokyo, Ledecky swam the anchor leg with the fastest relay split of anyone in the race, lifting the Americans from third to second, overtaking the Australians and nearly catching the Chinese who won the gold medal.
