The seven-time Olympic gold medalist is training harder than ever before under coach Anthony Nesty.
(2023 Getty Images)
As Katie Ledecky enters her second season swimming under coach Anthony Nesty at the University of Florida, she’s doing things she’s never done before pushed to new heights as she settles into her training environment.
“I think the first year of the program, you’re kind of getting your feel for the training and the different sets and the different weekly schedule,” said Ledecky, who moved to Florida from Stanford University following the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, held in the summer of 2021.
The seven-time Olympic gold medallist says she had an abbreviated preseason ahead of the 2022 year, having started with the program in October.
Then, an earlier than usual trials and worlds meant even less time to adjust to her new surroundings in Gainesville.
For the 2023 season, Ledecky says training began last August. She can see the fruits of that extra training time paying off.
“I had a little more of a base, and then really just built up through the fall,” explained Ledecky. “By Christmas training, I was doing things I’ve never done before from a yardage perspective, from intensity, from times I’m hitting in practice while doing that kind of yardage, so those are all things that give me confidence.”
Ledecky’s intense Christmas training included as much as 20,000m of swimming in a single day.
“I think there was a week where I probably had a yardage total that I’ve never hit before,” recalled Ledecky. “We had like, I don’t know, five or six days straight of doubles where maybe two of those days, all four practices were 10k.
“It’s not an easy 10k,” continued Ledecky. “We’re doing some pretty fast stuff, so you get through Christmas training and then January, everything feels easy. You just keep building month after month.”
The increased load has meant an increased focus on what the 26-year-old calls doing “the little things right,” like eating well, getting enough sleep and recovery.
It’s a big change from Ledecky’s early years on the U.S. national team as a teenage prodigy.
“I remember Michael Klueh was on the team… he was complaining about a knot in his back,” Ledecky said. “I was 16 years old, and I was like, ‘What’s a knot?’ And all these years later, I kinda know what that means.”
Her increased workload - and the little things, too - paid off at June’s U.S. world trials where Ledecky won three U.S. titles, including the women’s 1500m freestyle where she put up the sixth fastest time of her career and her fastest time since 2020.
"I have really great teammates and coaches around me every day that keep that motivation high," said Ledecky at the time of how she has continued her dominance in the sport. "I just can't speak highly enough of everyone who has supported me along this journey. And there's a lot more to come."
A 19-time world gold medal winner, Ledecky will look to add more hardware to her storied career in Fukuoka. She’s the reigning champion in the 400, 800 and 1500m freestyle events.
Having qualified to the U.S. team in four different freestyle distances, Ledecky will have a busy schedule but says she’s undaunted by the schedule at the global event.
“I feel like the schedule at worlds is good for me with the rest that I’ll get through the week,” Ledecky said in a pre-event media availability. “Of course, I have to swim kind of double hat I did at trials with prelims in the distance events, but I think I tend to manage that well at these meets.”
She has, of course, done more than manage well at global events in her career that now stretches more than a decade.
But despite her vast experience, Ledecky says she still relishes any chance she gets to push herself and represent her country.
“When I come to these meets, it’s all about representing Team USA and the honor that it is to put on that cap and be with my teammates and make everyone back home proud,” said Ledecky, “that’s my biggest motivation when I get to represent the USA and that’s my motivation at practice, to get that opportunity again and be the best that I can be for my team.”