A Look Into Katie Ledecky’s 800 Free Dominance; Will It Be Challenged In Singapore?

In Fukuoka, Japan, Katie Ledecky surpassed Michael Phelps. Winning the 800 free race, she claimed her 16th gold medal to hold the most individual swimming world titles. Now, in 2025, fans may witness Katie Ledecky create history at the World Championships once again. The 28-year-old will be aiming to win her seventh consecutive gold medal in the 800 free and become the first swimmer to claim seven world titles in the same event.

Ledecky’s highly successful history in this event certainly makes her a favourite to win it. She has also constantly posted great times throughout the season so far, including breaking her first long-course world record in seven years in May.

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A Look Into Katie Ledecky’s 800 Free Legacy

Just like 1500, 800 free has been one of the biggest strengths of Ledecky. In her Olympic debut, joining as the youngest member of the U.S. team at the age of 15, she claimed the gold in the 800 free with an American record, launching her career with multiple historic outings in the future. The next year, she broke the 800 free record for the first time. Following what seemed to be just one of multiple world records set by Ledecky, the swimmer managed to break the record five times between 2013 and 2016. After this, she continued to maintain her consistency in the event, claiming two Olympic gold medals at Tokyo and Paris, respectively. But during all these seven years, the 800 free record remained untouched.

Notably, following the Tokyo Olympics, Ledecky made some changes; she left Stanford to train with Anthony Nesty at the University of Florida. Ledecky’s momentum showcased a significant resurgence, claiming podium finishes at the World Championships and the Paris Olympics, and finally surpassed herself yet again, breaking the 800 free record in May 2025. One month later, at the U.S. Nationals, Ledecky qualified for the Singapore World championships, clocking the third-fastest time ever, in 8:05.76 seconds.

However, Ledecky’s road to maintain 800 free dominance could be challenged by 18-year-old Summer McIntosh in Singapore.

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Closest Competitor or potential winner: Summer McIntosh

After facing disappointment at the Tokyo Olympics, the world witnessed Summer McIntosh’s rapid rise in the fly and individual medley categories. However, apart from these events, in February 2024, McIntosh shocked the world by breaking Ledecky’s 13-year-old winning streak by nearly nine seconds. The Canadian swimmer handed defeat to arguably one of the best 800 free swimmers in the world, Ledecky’s first final loss in the event since 2010. Following this, the duo was expected to produce one of the greatest showdowns at the Paris Olympics. However, McIntosh decided to skip the event, taking home three Olympic Gold medals in the 200 medley, 200 fly, and 400 medley.

Now in Singapore, the 800 free race can be the event that decides what this category would look like at LA 2028. At the 2025 Canadian Trials, McIntosh managed to touch the wall in 8:05.07. Her performance helped her surpass Ledecky’s U.S. Nationals time and clock the new third-fastest time behind Ledecky’s 8:04.12 world record and the previous world record time set in Rio. With this time, McIntosh also managed to take down her Canadian record set in February by five seconds.

Since competing in the free event at the Tokyo Olympics at the age of 14, Summer McIntosh has come a long way. Despite racing the 800 free only a few times since, McIntosh remains the second fastest swimmer in the category and the second swimmer to break the 8:10 sub-barrier after Ledecky.

McIntosh, who is going to participate in 800 free for the first time “on the world level,” thinks “Katie is in her top form this season and the match up will be awesome” as the duo “bring the best out of each other.”