Like everyone else, Katie Ledecky was forced to shelve her plans when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. Instead of looking far into the future, the five-time Olympic champion swimmer switched to a more immediate mindset.
Forget that the four-year cycle leading to the 2024 Paris Olympics is underway, Ledecky is still working toward making a big splash at this summer’s delayed Tokyo Games.
“In some ways not traveling over the past year and just being able to train has been really good for me, and something I hope will pay dividends,” she said from northern California in a virtual interview. “I’m someone that really loves training. I kind of like the day-to-day of ... putting in that work in the pool and eventually seeing the results.”
Photo: AFP
Ledecky on Wednesday returned to national competition for the first time in a year, winning the 1,500m freestyle at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in San Antonio, Texas.
She led by a half-pool length for most of the 30-lap race before touching in 15 minutes, 42.92 seconds.
Ashley Twichell finished well back in second at 16:04.29.
“I didn’t set too many expectations coming into this first race,” Ledecky said afterward. “I knew getting the first race out of the way would kind of be a milestone in this journey back into real racing.”
With three months to go until the US Olympic trials, Ledecky is entered in her other usual events: the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyles. She is also set to swim the 50m and 100m freestyles.
Her Olympic schedule would focus on the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1,500m, plus any relays. The 1,500m is a new women’s event in Tokyo.
Last fall, Stanford and rival California staged small meets that Ledecky swam in. In January, she competed against training partners in a mock meet that included preliminaries and finals to make it resemble a real competition.
“I feel like some of these experiences have built my confidence,” she said. “If I can swim fast in that kind of environment, I can swim fast at a big stage like Olympic trials or the Games.”
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