Katie Ledecky makes history at World Aquatics Championships surpassing Ryan Lochte, edges closer to Michael Phelps' feat

American swimmer Katie Ledecky recently reached a major milestone in her career with her 1500m freestyle victory at the World Aquatics Championships 2025. Ledecky registered a time of 15:26.44 during the race on Tuesday to defeat the likes of Italy's Simona Quadrella and Australia's Lani Pallister and successfully defend her title.

Quadrella and Pallister gave tough competition to the American swimmer, clocking times of 15:31.79 and 15:41.18, respectively. This was Ledecky's first gold medal in this Singapore campaign and second overall after the bronze medal in the 400m freestyle race.

With this gold medal, Ledecky increased her World Championships medal tally to 28 and surpassed veteran swimmer Ryan Lochte (27) in the list of swimmers with the most medals in this competition. Ledecky is just behind Michael Phelps, who has 33 medals to his name, including a staggering 26 gold.

Notably, Ledecky will have another chance to add more to her tally on Friday, August 31, in the 800m freestyle event. However, she will face the likes of Summer McIntosh in the race, who had earlier defeated her in the 400m freestyle race on the first day of the Championships.

Katie Ledecky made her feelings known after winning her first gold medal at the 2025 Aquatics Championships

Katie Ledecky (Image via: Getty)

Katie Ledecky made her feelings known after her 1500m freestyle victory on the third day of the World Aquatics Championships 2025. Notably, this was Ledecky's 6th 1500m free gold medal in this competition.

Speaking in an interview after her race, Ledecky revealed that she was aiming to swim as fast as she could during the race and is quite happy with her performance. Additionally, the 28-year-old also lauded Simona Quadrealla's performance during the finals, who eventually clinched a silver. Ledecky said (via Hindustan Times):

"I just wanted to try to get out fast, but comfortable enough that I can build from there. Happy with the time, happy with the swim. That was an awesome swim from Simona. Second fastest performer ever." "The distance races are really quick right now. Just good to see how much we can push the sport forward. It's great to push the sport forward all together. All the events in the distance freestyles are moving forward, both on the women's and men's side."

Katie Ledecky has been one of the most dominant 1500m free swimmers in the current generation. Barring her six World titles, she also has two Olympic titles over this distance that she won in 2020 and 2024.

Edited by pranavsethii