Associated Press
Associated Press
IRVINE, Calif. — Katie Ledecky broke the world record in the 400-meter freestyle at the U.S. national championships Saturday night, impressing a downtrodden Michael Phelps who lost for the third time this week.
Ledecky, a 17-year-old from Bethesda, Maryland, won in 3 minutes, 58.86 seconds, becoming the first woman since Janet Evans to hold world marks in the 400, 800 and 1,500 freestyles at the same time.
“That is some serious speed,” marveled Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history.
Ledecky bettered the old mark of 3:59.15 set by Italy’s Federica Pellegrini at the 2009 world championships in Rome, when a raft of records were broken during the apex of the high-tech suit era. Those suits were banned the following year, making world records harder to achieve.
Phelps had another bummer of a night, finishing sixth in the 100 backstroke behind Olympic champion Matt Grevers, who won in 52.75 seconds.
Phelps was seventh at the turn and touched in 53.95.
“I hate this,” he groused. “Anything to be able to change this.”
Ledecky’s hard work was evident.
She went under world-record pace the entire race, dropping a whopping 1.71 seconds under at 250 meters. With one lap to go, she was still 1.53 seconds under.
“Just tried to make sure I didn’t rush the first 100,” she said. “It was probably pretty close to perfect.”