Katie Ledecky Earns FINA’s Female Swimmer of the Meet

The United States ended up on top of the medal standings at the 2015 FINA World Championships, racking up a total of 8 golds, 10 silvers and 5 bronze medals at the conclusion of the meet.

Remarkably, Katie Ledecky was responsible, either in whole or in part, for an astounding 5 of those gold medals, as the 18-year old claimed the top prize in the 200m-400m-800m-1500m individual freestyle events, as well as a member of the 800m freestyle relay.

In winning those golds, Ledecky set three new World Records, first clocking a new 1500m mark of 15:27.71 in prelims, then lowering it in the final to a beyond impressive 15:25.48.  Ledecky was also the first woman to ever register a sub-8:10 mark in the 800m freestyle, touching in a historic new world record time of 8:07.39.

As reported by SwimSwam’s Mitch Bowmile, here are some interesting facts about Ledecky’s medal haul at this World Championships:

FUN FACTS ABOUT LEDECKY’S 2015 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MEDAL HAUL

1. Ledecky swam a total of 6,200 meters in order to claim her five gold medals
2. Ledecky now has a total of nine world championship titles which ties her for having the second most out of all female swimmers behind only Missy Franklin who has 10
3. Ledecky is the first swimmer to ever win four individual freestyle golds at a major international competition
4. Ledecky set three world records at this meet, two in the 1500m freestyle (15:27.71, 15:25.48) and one in the 800m freestyle (8:07.39)
5. Ledecky won the 200m freestyle final by 0.17 seconds
6. Ledecky won the 400m freestyle final by 3.89 seconds
7. Ledecky won the 800m freestyle final by 10.26 seconds
8. Ledecky’s opening split in the 800m freestyle final would have finished third overall in the individual 400 final behind herself and Sharon Van Rouwendaal.
9. Ledecky’s closing split in the 800m freestyle final would rank her 6th in the world in the individual 400 free.
10. Ledecky won the 1500m freestyle final by 14.66 seconds
11. Ledecky’s first 800 meters were faster than any swimmer has ever swam an individual 800m freestyle
12. Ledecky’s closing 800 meters tied the fastest non-Ledecky performance ever (8:14.10)
13. Ledecky split a 1:55.64 while anchoring the winning women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.
14. When breaking her world record in the 800 free, she broke it by the largest margin since 1978 (3.61 seconds)
15. Only the fourth woman to have ever won five gold medals at one edition of the world championships