During the grueling s 19th FINA Swimming World Championships last Saturday at the Duna Arena in Budapest, 25-year-old Katie Ledecky, six-time Olympic medalist, won not only her seventh medal, but also a new rival, the Canadian prodigy Summer McIntosh. Fans were disappointed to see Ledecky put up a time of 3 minutes and 58.15 seconds, (in what event?) barely missing record-holding Australian swimmer Titmus’ record of 3:56:40. McIntosh missed Ledecky’s prior record of 3 minutes and 56.15 seconds by a second, making her the fourth female to swim (what event?) under four minutes in history.
Despite the glaring absence of the record-holding Australian swimmer Titmus, who may have vanquished Ledecky as she did previously in the Tokyo Olympics, Ledecky found competition. After the race, Ledecky confessed, “I was a little nervous. McIntosh hung in there the whole time, so she definitely pushed me a lot. Summer is now in the sub-four-minute club, so it’s only going to get harder, these races. So I know I have my work cut out for me. It’s a good steppingstone here, to just kind of have a baseline for the next couple years moving toward Paris.”
Ledecky is rejuvenated change word since the article uses this same word by a move to a new coach, Anthony Nesty, and a new training group at the University of Florida. However, she shot down any notion(same phrasing as article) that she was motivated by trying to beat Titmus. “That wasn’t any added motivation,” said Ledecky. “A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, it must motivate you more.’ But I’m always motivated. I’m always excited to see what I can do. … If I didn’t have motivation before, that would’ve been a problem.” Ledecky’s motivation and attitude of not setting time goals but just trying to improve is what is leading her to success.
Other American victories in other competitions included American veteran Leah Smith taking the bronze medal in 4:02.08, the seventh world championship medal of her career.
Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel helped the USA to the gold medal in the 4×100 free relay, though it was Ryan Held’s 46.99 split in the second leg that put that race away. All told, the US won six of the available 15 medals awarded on the opening day of the world championship meet.
Resources: Katie Ledecky wins gold in 400 free at world championships – The Washington Post.pdf
Despite the glaring absence of the record-holding Australian swimmer Titmus, who may have vanquished Ledecky as she did previously in the Tokyo Olympics, Ledecky found competition. After the race, Ledecky confessed, “I was a little nervous. McIntosh hung in there the whole time, so she definitely pushed me a lot. Summer is now in the sub-four-minute club, so it’s only going to get harder, these races. So I know I have my work cut out for me. It’s a good steppingstone here, to just kind of have a baseline for the next couple years moving toward Paris.”
Ledecky is rejuvenated change word since the article uses this same word by a move to a new coach, Anthony Nesty, and a new training group at the University of Florida. However, she shot down any notion(same phrasing as article) that she was motivated by trying to beat Titmus. “That wasn’t any added motivation,” said Ledecky. “A lot of people are like, ‘Oh, it must motivate you more.’ But I’m always motivated. I’m always excited to see what I can do. … If I didn’t have motivation before, that would’ve been a problem.” Ledecky’s motivation and attitude of not setting time goals but just trying to improve is what is leading her to success.
Other American victories in other competitions included American veteran Leah Smith taking the bronze medal in 4:02.08, the seventh world championship medal of her career.
Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Caeleb Dressel helped the USA to the gold medal in the 4×100 free relay, though it was Ryan Held’s 46.99 split in the second leg that put that race away. All told, the US won six of the available 15 medals awarded on the opening day of the world championship meet.
Resources: Katie Ledecky wins gold in 400 free at world championships – The Washington Post.pdf
