Ledecky Wins 1650 By a Minute, Breaks American, NCAA Records at OSU

2016 OHIO STATE INVITATIONAL

• Live results
• Meet info
• Hosted by Ohio State University
• Friday, November 18th-Sunday, November 20th
• 25 yards
• Invite format

One day, we’ll stop seeing headlines like this. One day. Stanford freshman Katie Ledecky took to this pool this afternoon in the 1650 free, and finished the race with a time of 15:03.92, nearly ten seconds ahead of her own American record and nearly twenty seconds ahead of the old NCAA record (a 15:25.30 set at last year’s ACC Champs by UVA’s Leah Smith). This swim comes just two days after she took down similar records in the 500 free with a 4:26.46 at this meet.

Old NCAA record

• Leah Smith, UVA – 15:25.30 (02/20/2016)

Old American record

• Katie Ledecky – 15:13.30 (12/06/2014)

New NCAA, American record

• Katie Ledecky, Stanford – 15:03.92 (11/20/2016)

Ledecky’s splits, which you can see at the bottom of the page, were all 27’s save for four of her 50s. She also had these splits at key points in the race:

• 200 free split – 1:49.51
• 500 free split – 4:35.85
• 1000 free split –  9:08.94
• First 50 – 25.97
• Last 50 – 25.96

That 9:08.94, at the feet on her turn, is the 2nd-fastest 1000 free ever. Ledecky, of course, holds the fastest time with an 8:59.65 from last December. Additionally, her 1000 split also breaks her own recent NCAA record, a 9:10.49 from just one week ago.

Also, her 15:03.92 today would have finished 27th at the 2016 Men’s NCAA Championships, about 11 seconds outside of what it took to score. For more context: she would’ve finished 3rd in the men’s race at this meet. Only Kentucky’s Drew Aviotti (14:58.50) and OSU’s Brayden Seal (15:00.32) were faster, and not by much.

So, Ledecky now holds the three fastest 1650 free swims of all-time. Her #2 and #3 ranked times are a 15:13.30 from December of 2014 and a 15:15.17 from December of 2013. No swimmer has come within twenty seconds of her best time right now, as Katie Hoff‘s 4th ranked time is a 15:24.35. In today’s race, Ledecky won by more than a minute over 2nd place Amanda Richey of Pitt (16:04.25). The next barrier for her to break would be the 15-minute mark, which is a daunting task for male distance swimmers even at the NCAA level.

SPLITS

Ledecky, Katie 
    r:+0.71  25.97        53.60 (27.63)
        1:21.64 (28.04)     1:49.51 (27.87)
        2:17.57 (28.06)     2:45.40 (27.83)
        3:13.14 (27.74)     3:40.75 (27.61)
        4:08.34 (27.59)     4:35.85 (27.51)
        5:03.10 (27.25)     5:30.59 (27.49)
        5:58.01 (27.42)     6:25.19 (27.18)
        6:52.71 (27.52)     7:20.00 (27.29)
        7:47.30 (27.30)     8:14.60 (27.30)
        8:41.77 (27.17)     9:08.94 (27.17)
        9:36.34 (27.40)    10:03.57 (27.23)
       10:31.08 (27.51)    10:58.36 (27.28)
       11:25.83 (27.47)    11:53.35 (27.52)
       12:20.94 (27.59)    12:48.72 (27.78)
       13:16.30 (27.58)    13:43.74 (27.44)
       14:10.87 (27.13)    14:37.96 (27.09)    15:03.92 (25.96)