Katie Ledecky Nearly Laps Competition in 1,500-Meter Race to Olympics Fans’ Delight: ‘Looks Like No One Else Is in the Pool’.

This performance comes after a rare defeat when the swimmer won bronze during the women’s 400-meter Saturday in Paris

Katie Ledecky
Katie Ledecky of Team USA (Credit: Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Once again, swimmer Katie Ledecky smoked her competition. During the 1,500-meter freestyle swimming heat, the seven-time Olympic gold medalist pulled so far ahead, she couldn’t be seen in the same shot as her fellow swimmers.

Ledecky didn’t lap her competition, but she came close on Tuesday morning. The Team USA swimmer’s time was 15:47.43, a score that was 17.83 seconds ahead of the second place swimmer, China’s Li Bingjie. Naturally, that led to a round of tweets praising the athlete.

“My favorite olympic tradition is watching Katie Ledecky be so far ahead that it looks like no one else is in the pool,” one user posted on X.

“I will never get tired of watching Katie Ledecky swim the 1,500 meter,” another posted.

Ledecky is an accomplished swimmer in any event, but the 1,500 meter belongs to her. The Olympian has set a world record in the event six times, according to the New York Times. She’s also won the event in five world championships as well as the gold medal for the event’s inaugural Olympics race in 2021.

The swimmer won her first gold in the 800-meter freestyle during the London Olympics when she was just 15 years old. Since then, she won four gold medals in Rio (200-meter freestyle, 400-meter freestyle, 800-meter freestyle and 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay) and two gold medals in Tokyo (800-meter freestyle and 1500-meter freestyle). Depending on her performance in the following days, Ledecky could make history as the most decorated female Olympic swimmer of all time.

On Saturday, the first night of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Ledecky took home the bronze in the 400-meter freestyle. Australia’s Ariarne Titmus took home the gold and Canada’s Summer McIntosh took home silver.

The women’s 1500-meter freestyle final will take place on Wednesday in the 2:30-4:30 p.m. ET window. Ledecky will also compete in the 400-meter freestyle and the 4 x 200 freestyle relay.