Katie Ledecky is turning back the clock in her first top-level swim meet since the Paris Olympics, recording her fastest times in many years on back-to-back nights.
On Thursday, Ledecky won the 400m freestyle in 3 minutes, 56.81 seconds at a Tyr Pro Series meet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It’s her second-best time ever behind her 2016 Olympic swim of 3:56.46, which stood as the world record until 2022.
It marked the fastest time ever in an American pool and the seventh-fastest time in history by any woman in any pool.
“I don’t know if I ever thought I was going to be 3:56 again,” an emotional Ledecky, who turned 28 on March 17, said on Peacock after posting her best time since she was a teenager.
SWIMMING: Full Results | Broadcast Schedule
In Thursday’s final, Ledecky trailed Canadian Summer McIntosh by 85 hundredths at the 300-meter mark, then zoomed by McIntosh to win by 1.47 seconds.
McIntosh, who won three individual gold medals in Paris and is a decade younger than Ledecky, was 1.07 seconds under world record pace at the 250-meter mark.
But McIntosh’s last 50 meters were the second-slowest of the eight-woman final. Ledecky had the fastest last 50.
At the Paris Olympics, McIntosh took silver and Ledecky earned bronze in the 400m free behind Australian Ariarne Titmus in a showdown among the three fastest women in history in the event.
Titmus, the world record holder at 3:55.38, has said she is sitting out this season, increasing the likelihood of a Ledecky-McIntosh duel for the world title in Singapore in three months.
Ledecky has now recorded the second-fastest times of her life in two of her three primary events on back-to-back days — at an early season meet when swimmers are typically still in heavy training in anticipation of faster times in the summer.
On Wednesday, Ledecky swam the second-fastest 1500m freestyle in history, giving her the top 22 times ever in that event.
“I’m pretty fired up,” Ledecky said after that race, according to USA Swimming. “I’ve been training really well and feeling good going into this meet, but you never know. It’s not like it’s the biggest meet of the year or anything, I just wanted (my time) to be a season best, which would have been 15:36. I’m pretty ecstatic.”
The Fort Lauderdale meet continues Friday with finals at 6 p.m. ET, live on Peacock.
Ledecky is entered in the 200m free and the 400m individual medley on Friday, two events she didn’t contest at the Paris Olympics. McIntosh is entered in the 200m backstroke, which she has never contested at a major international meet in a 50-meter pool.
Fort Lauderdale marks the last Pro Series meet before the U.S. Championships from June 3-7 in Indianapolis, where the team will be determined for worlds in July and August in Singapore.
In other events Thursday, Gretchen Walsh won the 100m free in a personal best 52.90, holding off Olympic 100m free silver medalist Torri Huske by five hundredths.
Walsh, the world record holder in the 100m butterfly, is now the fifth-fastest American woman in history in the 100m free.
In the 100m breaststroke, Emma Weber edged Lilly King by four hundredths -- 1:06.63 to 1:06.67 -- in a duel between the two Paris Olympians in the event.
In the 50m backstroke, Katharine Berkoff won a final that included the 2024 Olympic 100m back second-, third- and fourth-place finishers. Berkoff, the Olympic bronze medalist, won in 27.38 over Olympic silver medalist Regan Smith (27.43) and Olympic fourth-place finisher Kylie Masse of Canada (27.53). The 50m back debuts at the Olympics in 2028.
