Katie Ledecky once again dominated a 1500m freestyle, extending her 15-year, 40-plus-meet win streak in swimming’s longest event.
Ledecky clocked 15 minutes, 40.86 seconds, taking her heat by 41.66 seconds at a Tyr Pro Series stop in Westmont, Illinois, on Friday.
Afterward, Ledecky said she has long been inspired by her grandmother Kathleen Hagan, who died in February. Ledecky visited her often in North Dakota, including for her 100th birthday celebration in January.
“She’s someone I’ve thought about in a lot of miles,” Ledecky said on Peacock. “I’m glad that she could watch that one with my grandpa today.”
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Ledecky last lost a 1500m free at the July 2010 Potomac Valley Championships in her native Maryland — as a 13-year-old to a 17-year-old Kaitlin Pawlowicz.
“(Ledecky) was leading and her cap came off,” Pawlowicz said in 2016, according to Yahoo Sports.
Since, Ledecky won six world titles and two Olympic gold medals in the 1500m free, which was added to the Olympic program starting with the Tokyo Games.
Ledecky owns the 12 fastest times in history, including the world record of 15:20.48 set in 2018. The second-fastest woman in history, Italy’s Simona Quadarella, has a best time of 15:31.79, more than 11 seconds off Ledecky’s record.
The Pro Series stop in Westmont concludes Saturday with finals at 7 p.m. ET on the USA Swimming Network.
Also Friday, Australian Sam Short won the men’s 1500m free over two-time Olympic 1500m gold medalist Bobby Finke and Olympic 800m gold medalist Daniel Wiffen of Ireland.
Short, the 2023 World 400m free champion, finished in 14 minutes, 52.33 seconds, which was 15.94 seconds ahead of Finke and 42.61 seconds ahead of Wiffen.
Short also won the 800m free over Finke (17 seconds behind) and Wiffen (26 seconds back) on Thursday.
U.S. swimmers are preparing for the major international meet of 2026, the Pan Pacific Championships in August in Irvine, California, for nations outside Europe. Europe has its own continental championships meet in August.
The U.S. roster for Pan Pacs was already determined by results in 2025 meets.
