As U.S. trials begin, Katie Ledecky takes aim at Olympic history

An NFL stadium converted into the biggest natatorium the world has ever seen.

A quadrennial swim meet that, thanks in no small part to the star power of Ledecky and a small handful of teammates, has grown so large as to require an NFL stadium to contain it.

And Ledecky’s own transformation, over the course of 12 memorable years on these stages, from teenage sensation to legendary icon.

In Ledecky’s first swim on the first day of the nine-day trials, where Team USA will pick the squad that will head to Paris next month for the 2024 Summer Games, she breezed through the eight lengths of the 400 free in a time of 3 minutes 59.99 seconds, nearly 6½ seconds faster than anyone else in her heat. She would be seeded first in Saturday night’s final, seeking to clinch a spot in her fourth Olympics.

Half a lifetime ago, on June 26, 2012, in Omaha, Ledecky dove into the pool at an Olympic trials for the first time in her life, also for the preliminary heats of the 400 free. At 15, she was the youngest swimmer in her heat by nearly a year and a half. The heat sheets, meet program and television broadcast back then listed her first name as “Kathleen.” Those trials, like the ones in 2016 and 2021, took place in a converted basketball arena with a capacity of around 13,000.

Ledecky, at the time a rising sophomore at Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, fell short of earning an Olympic berth in the 400, but five days later won the 800 free to punch her ticket to the London Games. There, as the youngest swimmer in the final by some four years, she stunned the sport by winning the gold medal, the start of one of the most storied Olympic careers of this generation.

On Saturday, in the converted home of the Indianapolis Colts, with a configured seating capacity of around 30,000, Ledecky climbed the starting blocks as a seven-time Olympic champion. At 27, she was the oldest swimmer in her heat by more than five years.

Her longevity, coupled with her sustained excellence, has her on the verge of all sorts of history this summer. Two more gold medals in Paris, for example, would vault her past fellow American Jenny Thompson for the most in Olympic history by a female swimmer.

With the U.S. trials among the latest on the worldwide calendar, the American swimmers competing here have the benefit — or perhaps the added pressure — of seeing what times their international rivals posted earlier in their own trials.

In the case of Ledecky, for example, by the time she dove off the blocks for Saturday’s 400 free, she already knew that Canada’s Summer McIntosh had swum a 3:59.06 and Australia’s Ariarne Titmus a scorching 3:55.44, the second-fastest all-time, at their respective national trials.

Ledecky, McIntosh and Titmus have all held the 400 free world record within the past 25 months, with Titmus taking it from Ledecky, McIntosh taking it from Titmus, and Titmus finally taking it back with a 3:55.38 last summer at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan. In that race, Ledecky (3:58.73) finished a distant second, while McIntosh (3:59.94) faded all the way to fourth.

The head-to-head-to-head rematch in Paris this summer is already taking on race-of-the-century type of hype, although all the evidence points to Titmus distancing herself from her rivals.

“I know I have to be really fast in that event to compete for gold, or even to win a medal,” Ledecky said earlier this year about the 400 free.

On Saturday, though Lucas Oil Stadium was less than half full for the morning prelims, that crowd roared to life as Ledecky came down the stretch in her heat of the 400, and Ledecky matched its intensity.

Though she clearly eased up over the back half of the race — wisely saving her energy for the evening final — she unleashed a sizzling closing length of 28.87 seconds. How fast is that? It was a faster closing 50 than Ledecky swam in winning the gold medal in the 400 free at the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Games, in what was at the time a world record mark of 3:56.46. It was faster than her closing 50 in winning silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

It was also exactly the time — 28.87 — clocked by Titmus in the final 50 of her world record swim of 3:55.38 last summer in Fukuoka.

It could be that Ledecky was sending message with Saturday’s closing 50. The message, in effect: “Don’t count me out.” Her coach with Gator Swim Club in Gainesville, Fla., Anthony Nesty, is among those who think she still has a monster 400 left in her.

“She’s very capable. I see it in practice all the time,” said Nesty, who will be the head men’s coach for Team USA this summer in Paris. “Personally, I think she’s due for a really good 400. Because the last two years, they’ve been good, but not at a level she wants to compete at. I think she’s well overdue for putting one together.”