As Katie Ledecky has aged, her versatility has winnowed, she's been less competitive in shorter distances and the dream of her chasing down Michael Phelps for most individual gold medals in swimming events seems more and more unlikely. But it's hard to overstate just how brilliant she continues to be in the 800m and 1500m freestyle, winning gold in both at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Honestly, it might be time to move past gold medals and look for some other way to recognize her dominance. She has now won gold in the 800m freestyle in four consecutive Olympics and owns ALL 25 of the fastest times by a woman in the 1500m. She is not the swimmer she was in her youth and somehow she's still in a tier all by herself.
- Ian Levy
FanSided Creative Editorial Director
Best fan moment of the year
We all knew how the 1500m freestyle was going to end in Paris, but somehow Ledecky still found a way to enthrall. She finished a full 10 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher which is, like an eternity in a swimming event, even a long distance one. She set a new Olympic record and pushed her unbeaten streak in 1500m races at all competitions to 14 YEARS. Yes, you read that right. The last time someone beat her in the 1500m she was still in junior high.
What we’ll remember about this fandom a decade from now
Even if her brilliance has become focused on two specific distances, Ledecky has already proven herself the greatest woman swimmer of all time and one of the greatest Olympians in American history. At some point, someone is going to beat her but she's planning on swimming in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and, a decade from now, we may be looking back on a collection of records that is even more wild than the ones she's already broken.