Katie Ledecky is no stranger to rewriting history – something she has done time and again since making her senior debut in 2012. Her most recent crowning achievement came at the 2023 World Championships which took place between July 14 and July 30 in Fukuoaka, Japan and saw her take home four medals.
She won a silver medal in the 400m freestyle on July 23, a gold medal in the 1,500m freestyle on July 25, a silver medal in the 4x200m relay on July 27, and a gold medal in the 800m freestyle (her favorite and most dominant event) on July 29. It was with that second gold medal that she broke a historic record.
With her two gold medals, Ledecky now has 16 individual gold medals in her World Championships career, breaking a record previously held by Michael Phelps (he won 15 individual gold medals between 2001 and 2011). She’s officially in a league of her own and, at 26 years old, still has more left in the tank.
Katie Ledecky Continues to Impress at the World Championships
Not enough people are talking about what Katie Ledecky has done at the World Championships over the past 10 years. On one of the biggest stages in her sport, she has consistently been among the top of the food chain and has won at least one gold medal in each of the past six World Aquatics Championships.
And while she understands the significance behind breaking Michael Phelps’ record, she still thinks she could’ve performed better. “It’s cool … I’m happy with that swim. I wanted it to be a little better, but I’ll take it. I’m really pleased with how the week went,” she said of her accomplishment in an interview with CNN.
Not only did she break Phelps’ record, but she became the first swimmer (male or female) to win six straight world championships in the same event – doing so in the 800m freestyle. Her dominance as an individual is something we can’t take for granted, so let’s take a moment to marvel at what she has done!
1. 400m Freestyle (2013 Barcelona)
The women’s 400m freestyle at the 2013 World Championships was held on July 28, 2013 at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 4:03.05 early in the day and walked away with a gold medal after posting a time of 3:59.82 in the finals later in the day.
For reference, the world record was 3:59.15 at the time of the event – Ledecky was just 0.67 seconds off of it. She ended up beating Melanie Costa (Spain) by 2.65 seconds and Lauren Boyle (New Zealand) by 4.07 seconds. Ledecky was the only United States’ swimmer to qualify for the finals in the 400m freestyle.
2. 800m Freestyle (2013 Barcelona)
The women’s 800m freestyle at the 2013 World Championships was held on August 2 and August 3 at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 8:20.65 on August 2 and walked away with a gold medal after posting a time of 8:13.86 in the finals on August 3.
Ledecky set a new competition record and world record with her finals’ time. The previous world record was 8:14.10 (set by Rebecca Adlington in August 2008) and the previous competition record was 8:15.92 (set by Lotte Friis in August 2009) – who ended up winning the silver medal behind Ledecky.
3. 1500m Freestyle (2013 Barcelona)
The women’s 1500m freestyle at the 2013 World Championships was held on July 29 and July 30 at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Spain. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 15:49.26 (2nd-best in heats) and walked away with a gold medal with a time of 15:36.53 in the finals on July 30.
Ledecky set a new competition record and world record with her impressive time. The previous world record was 15:42.54 (set by fellow American, Kate Ziegler, in June 2007) and the previous competition record was 15:44.93 (set by Alessia Filippi in July 2009). Ledecky blew those records out of the water.
4. 200m Freestyle (2015 Kazan)
The women’s 200m freestyle at the 2015 World Championships was held on August 4 and August 5 at the Kazan Arena in Kazan, Russia. Katie Ledecky qualified for the semifinals with a time of 1:55.82 (best in heats) and qualified for the finals with a time of 1:56.76 (third-best in semis) before winning the gold.
She had a winning time of 1:55.16 in the finals – for reference, the world record and competition record at the time was 1:52.98 (set by Federica Pellegrini of Italy in July 2009). Ledecky’s time was 0.50 seconds better than Katinka Hosszu (Hungary) and 0.60 seconds better than Missy Franklin (United States).
5. 400m Freestyle (2015 Kazan)
The women’s 400m freestyle at the 2015 World Championships was held on August 2, 2015 at the Kazan Arena in Kazan, Russia. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 4:01.73 (best in heats) and walked away with a gold medal with a time of 3:59.13 in the finals – setting a new competition record.
The previous competition record was held by Federica Pellegrini (Italy), who posted a 3:59.15 in 2009. In addition to owning the competition record, Ledecky was also the owner of the world record in the 400m freestyle after recording a 3:58.37 on August 23, 2014 at the Pan Pacific Championships in Australia.
6. 800m Freestyle (2015 Kazan)
The women’s 800m freestyle at the 2015 World Championships was held on August 7 and August 8 at the Kazan Arena in Kazan, Russia. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a 8:19.42 (best in heats) and walked away with the gold medal after posting an 8:07.39 in the finals – setting a new world record.
Ledecky already owned the competition and world record before the event started – she set the world record (8:11.00) on June 22, 2014 and the competition record (8:13.86) on August 3, 2013. Her record time at the 2015 World Championships was 3.61 seconds better than her previous world record mark.
7. 1500m Freestyle (2015 Kazan)
The women’s 1500m freestyle at the 2015 World Championships was held on August 3 and August 4 at the Kazan Arena in Kazan, Russia. Katie Ledecky already had the competition and world record prior to the event starting, but she would go on to break both records twice – on August 3 and again the next day.
She qualified for the finals with a time of 15:27.71 – which was 0.65 seconds better than her previous world record mark – before setting the record again with a 15:25.48 in the finals to secure her gold medal. The next closest swimmer was Lauren Boyle (New Zealand), who won the silver with a time of 15:40.14.
8. 400m Freestyle (2017 Budapest)
The women’s 400m freestyle at the 2017 World Championships was held on July 23 at the Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 3:59.06 (best in heats) and walked away with a gold medal after posting a 3:58.34 in the finals – setting a new competition record.
Ledecky entered the competition with both the world record (3:56.46) and competition record (3:59.13). While she couldn’t top her world record, she broke the competition record with her time in the heats and then again with her time in the finals. She beat fellow American, Leah Smith, by 3.20 seconds in 2017.
9. 800m Freestyle (2017 Budapest)
The women’s 800m freestyle at the 2017 World Championships was held on July 28 and July 29 at the Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 8:20.24 (best in heats) and walked away with a gold medal with a time of 8:12.68 in the finals – no records were broken.
While she didn’t break any records, she already owned the world record (8:04.79, set in August 2016) and competition record (8:07.39, set in August 2015) before the competition started. She ended up beating Li Bingjie (China) by 2.84 seconds and Leah Smith (United States) by 4.54 seconds in the final on July 29.
10. 1500m Freestyle (2017 Budapest)
The women’s 1500m freestyle at the 2017 World Championships was held on July 24 and July 25 at the Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 15:47.54 (best in heats) on July 24 and walked away with a gold medal with a time of 15:31.82 in the finals on July 25.
Ledecky beat Mireia Belmonte (Spain) by 19.07 seconds and Simona Quadarella (Italy) by 22.04 seconds. She didn’t break any records en route to her gold medal, but she already owned both the world record and competition record – which she set with a time of 15:25.48 at the 2015 World Championships.
11. 800m Freestyle (2019 Gwangju)
The women’s 800m freestyle at the 2019 World Championships was held on July 26 and July 27 at the Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Center in Gwangju, South Korea. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 8:17.42 (2nd-best in heats) and walked away with a gold medal with a time of 8:13.58.
Ledecky beat Simona Quadarella (Italy) by 1.41 seconds and Ariarne Titmus (Australia) by 2.12 to claim her gold medal – her fourth consecutive in the 800m freestyle. While she didn’t break any records during the event, she already owned the world and competition record heading into the competition.
12. 400m Freestyle (2022 Budapest)
The women’s 400m freestyle at the 2022 World Championships was held on June 18 at the Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 3:59.79 (best in heats) early in the day and walked away with a gold medal after recording a 3:58.15 in the finals later that day.
Ledecky beat Summer McIntosh (Canada) by 1.24 seconds and Leah Smith (United States) by 3.93 seconds to claim her fourth career gold medal in the 400m freestyle at Worlds. She also set a new competition record – breaking her old record of 3:58.34, but coming up short of the world record.
13. 800m Freestyle (2022 Budapest)
The women’s 800m freestyle at the 2022 World Championships was held on June 23 and June 24 at the Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 8:17.51 (best in heats) and walked away with a gold medal after recording an 8:08.04 in the finals the following day.
Ledecky beat Kiah Melverton (Australia) by 10.73 seconds and Simona Quadarella (Italy) by 10.96 seconds en route to her fifth consecutive gold medal in the event. She didn’t break any records, but she did come within 0.65 seconds of setting a competition record – a record she already owned at the time.
14. 1500m Freestyle (2022 Budapest)
The women’s 1500m freestyle at the 2022 World Championships was held on June 19 and June 20 at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 15:47.02 seconds (best in heats) and walked away with a gold medal after recording a winning time of 15:30.15.
Ledecky beat Katie Grimes (United States) by 14.74 seconds and Lani Pallister (Australia) by 18.81 seconds to win her fourth career gold medal in the 1500m freestyle at Worlds. She didn’t set any new records, but she already owned both the competition record (15:25.48) and the world record (15:20.48).
15. 800m Freestyle (2023 Fukuoka)
The women’s 800m freestyle at the 2023 World Championships was held on July 28 and July 29 at the Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 8:15.60 (best in heats) and walked away with a gold medal after recording a time of 8:08.87 in the finals.
Ledecky beat Li Bingjie (China) by 4.44 seconds and Ariarne Titmus (Australia) by 4.72 seconds en route to winning her record sixth consecutive gold medal in the 800m freestyle. She didn’t break any records with her time, but she did come within 1.48 seconds of breaking her own competition record.
16. 1500m Freestyle (2023 Fukuoka)
The women’s 1500m freestyle at the 2023 World Championships was held on July 24 and July 25 at the Marine Messe Fukuoka in Fukuoka, Japan. Katie Ledecky qualified for the finals with a time of 15:41.22 (best in heats) and walked away with a gold medal after recording a winning time of 15:26.27 in the finals.
Ledecky beat Simona Quadarella (Italy) by 17.04 seconds and Li Bingjie (China) by 19.44 seconds en route to winning her second consecutive and fifth total gold medal in the event at Worlds. She didn’t break any new records with her time, but she came within 0.79 seconds of breaking her own competition record.
What’s Next for Katie Ledecky?
At just 26 years old, Katie Ledecky still has plenty more left in the tank and isn’t ready to bring her career to an end – for reference, Michael Phelps retired at 31 years old and most swimmers tend to retire in their late-20s, early-30s. In fact, she has talked about the possibility of competing in 2028 – 5 years from now!
With that being said, she could have two more Olympic Games and three more World Championships left in her career – which means she could win another 5+ Olympic gold medals and another 6+ gold medals at the World Championships if she maintains her level of dominance into her late-20s and early-30s.
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Either way, she has already built quite the legacy and it’s one that’s unlikely to be bested by any one swimmer in the near future. With 16 world records to her name and 46 total medals in major international competitions, she could retire today and go down as one of the greatest – but we’ll take a few more years!
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