Katie Ledecky tied Michael Phelps' record when she won her 15th career individual world swimming title. On Tuesday, Ledecky won the 1500-meter freestyle event by an astounding 17.04 seconds at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
Ledecky finished with a time of 15:26.27 in the event, and it marked the fifth time that she's won the 1500-meter freestyle in her decorated career.
The seven-time Olympic gold medalist finished with the third-best time in the history of the event as she beat out silver medalist Simona Quadarella of Italy and Li Bingjie of China. Ledeceky entered the event as the favorite, and ended up finishing 13 seconds ahead of Quadarella in the heats.
"I'm just really enjoying swimming right now, especially my distance events, I've just been feeling great," Ledecky said following the race. "I feel like I'm getting better each time I swim them. That's what you love to see. You love to see improvement, and that's been my biggest goal over the last couple of years."
Tuesday's showing marked Ledecky's best time since she lowered her world record to 15:20.48 back in 2018. Ledecky also became the third-oldest United States woman to win an individual swimming world title.
More history could be on the horizon for Ledecky. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Ledecky can become the oldest American woman to win an individual Olympic swimming gold medal. Ledeceky can also break her individual world gold medals tie with Phelps in the 800-meter freestyle final on Saturday.
Ledecky currently has 24 total world championships medals and 20 gold medals, which are both women's records. Phelps currently holds the overall records with 33 medals and 26 gold medals.
