Katie Ledecky: The Queen of Breaking Records and Misconceptions
“Only a woman would have 20 years of experience, and it’s an Achilles heel instead of something that is treasured and used as a way forward for our sport and for women. So hopefully we can change that narrative.”
Katie Ledecky after winning the 1500 m freestyle at the 2025 World Aquatis Championships (Getty)
So what’s next for you? How long are you realistically going to keep doing this? When is it finally time for you to settle down? How is it trying to keep up with the next generation?
The Myth: Female Athlete Potential Decreases with Age
We’ve heard all the questions aimed at athletes at the age society deems past their prime. The people who ask them usually mean well, but these questions demonstrate a deeper bias at play: that greatness is fleeting and that aging means decline. In a world that prioritizes youth and beauty in women, this belief translates directly to a collective attitude towards female athletes. Even if they remain on top of the leaderboard, sponsorships dwindle, and confidence in their abilities diminishes with every year that passes. The media will deem men with years of professional experience as “veterans”, but debate whether women are “past their prime” if they’ve been in the game for longer than most. This rhetoric is a direct reflection of the faulty belief that the window of greatness for female athletes is brief and early in their lives. It’s not only harmful, but actually quite wrong, scientifically.
Increasingly, research is emerging that debunks the former theory that women’s athletic abilities decline after their early 20s. It actually suggests quite the opposite. The media was shocked when Simone Biles dominated the 2024 Olympics at the age of 27, but what they might not know is that 27 is now thought to be the most ideal athletic age. And of course, this is just an average. A rapidly increasing number of women have shown us that age is a strength when it comes to athletic performance, shattering records well into their late 20s, 30s, and even 40s.
Researchers also found that in the last 20-30 years, the average age peak of athleticism for women has continued to increase, while men’s has remained stagnant. What’s the reason for this growth? With increased investment, media attention, sports medicine research, and support for female athletes, it is becoming increasingly possible for women to achieve longevity comparable to that of men in sports. Of course, there is a long way to go, but simply beginning to combat the assumptions about women’s shortened athletic careers has already elongated their window of greatness. Female endurance athletes may even benefit from age. Apart from general improved nutrition and more specialized training, Dr. Sarah Merril suggests that the increased estrogen levels that women experience with age can facilitate adding on muscle weight.
The bottom line? Women’s athletic careers aren’t the ticking time bomb that we initially thought they were. They can maintain their greatness for many years, but more importantly, they can become greater as the years go on. Need more evidence? Look to Katie Ledecky and her steady (and incredibly long) reign over distance swimming.
Katie Ledecky at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships (Getty)
Katie Ledecky is Never Slowing Down
At just 15 years old, Katie Ledecky took the world by storm and won her first Olympic gold medal. She instantly solidified herself as one of the greatest of all time, but no one was quite prepared for how long this reign would last. To give you an idea of Katie’s dominance, here is a timeline of her entire World Championship swimming career:
2012 London Olympics
Gold in the 800 m freestyle
2013 World Championships:
Gold in the 400 m freestyle
Gold in the 800 m (world record) freestyle
Gold in the 1500 m freestyle (world record)
Gold in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay
2015 World Championships
Gold in the 200 m freestyle
Gold in the 400 m freestyle
Gold in the 800 m freestyle (world record)
Gold in the 1500 freestyle (world record)
Gold in the 4 x 200 freestyle relay
2016 Rio Olympics
Gold in the 200 m freestyle
Gold in the 400 m freestyle (world record)
Gold in the 800 m freestyle (world record)
Gold in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay
Gold in the 4x100 m freestyle relay
2017 World Championships
Gold in the 400 m freestyle
Gold in the 800 m freestyle
Gold in the 1500 m freestyle
Gold in the 4 x 100 m freestyle relay
Gold in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay
Silver in the 200 m freestyle
2019 World Championships
Gold in the 800 m freestyle
Silver in the 400 m freestyle
Silver in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay
2021 Tokyo Olympics
Gold in the 800 m freestyle
Gold in the 1500 m freestyle
Silver in the 400 m freestyle
Silver in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay
2022 World Championships
Gold in the 400 m freestyle
Gold in the 800 m freestyle
Gold in the 1500 m freestyle
Gold in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay
2023 World Championships
Gold in the 800 m freestyle
Gold in the 1500 m freestyle
Silver in the 400 m freestyle
Silver in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay
2024 Paris Olympics
Gold in the 800 m freestyle
Gold in the 1500 m freestyle (Olympic record)
Silver in the 4x 100 m freestyle relay
Bronze in the 400 m freestyle
2025 World Championships
Gold in the 1500 m freestyle
Silver in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay
Bronze in the 400 m freestyle
800 m freestyle TBD….. (Saturday, August 2nd, if you want to tune in with us)
For 13 years and counting, Katie Ledecky has been the queen of long distance, forcing all her competitors to fight amongst each other for second place. This week at the Aquatics World Championships in Singapore, she won the 1500 m freestyle (an event she hasn’t lost since she was 15) with flying colors as she always does, finishing nearly an entire pool length ahead of the other women on the podium. She owns 25 of the 26 fastest times ever recorded in the 1500 m freestyle, and is the only swimmer (man or woman) to win six consecutive world titles in the same event.
Being considered the fastest woman in the world for such a long period is incredible in itself, but perhaps what’s most impressive about Katie’s career is the way that she is still getting faster, stronger, and better. Just this year at the TYR Swim Pro Series, she broke her own world record in the 800 m freestyle, the one she had set at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Her split time in the 4 x 200 m freestyle relay at World Championships this week was faster than her gold medal-winning individual 200 m freestyle at the 2016 Olympics– her fastest time in the event ever. She’s not only staying in the competition but elevating it every year.
In a world that assumes the window of dominance for female athletes (especially those in endurance sports) is fleeting and hampered by age, Katie Ledecky is proving quite the opposite. She has no plans to stop her training and reign over the swimming world anytime soon. And why would she? She’s still breaking records. She’s still the best in the world. She’s still leaving her competitors in the dust as she tears down the pool. She's still Katie. Freaking. Ledecky.
Hopefully, soon there will be a world where breaking records at age 28 isn’t considered groundbreaking and decades of dominance in sports aren’t a rarity for women. With the proper research, resources, support, media attention, and specialized training, maybe there’s a world where all-star female athletes’ careers mock the longevity of Katie’s. While we are a long way from this, we can take Katie’s story as an example that women don’t have an expiration date when it comes to athletic dominance. We can always get faster, stronger, smarter, better. We can always prove the world wrong.