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Katie Ledecky breaks four minutes in 400m freestyle for 20th time

Jul 26, 2018; Irvine, CA, USA; Katie Ledecky (right) looks on after winning the Women's 200 LC Meter Freestyle final during the 2018 USA Swimming Phillips 66 National Championships swim meet at William Woollett, Jr. Aquatics Center. Mandatory Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports

Olympic swimming legend Katie Ledecky broke the four-minute mark in the 400-meter freestyle for the 20th time on Saturday when she won the event at a Pro Series meet in Mission Viejo, Calif.

Ledecky was timed in 3:59.25 while finishing more than seven seconds ahead of runner-up Leah Smith, a fellow American.

I’m happy with that,” Ledecky said in a post-race interview. “It is good to get under four (minutes). That one didn’t feel as good as some of my other swims this week, but I’m happy with the time.”

Ledecky’s time was nearly three seconds off her world-record clocking of 3:56.46, set in 2016 when she won the Olympic gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

Overall, the two-time Olympian has won five gold medals and one silver. The 24-year-old is gearing up for another run at this summer’s Olympics in Tokyo by participating in meets this spring.

Four minutes has been broken by a woman just 25 times in the event but it has been reached only five times outside of Ledecky.

Ledecky won the 200-meter freestyle on Friday with a time of 1:54.40.

–Field Level Media

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