Rome, 15 January (LaPresse) – In her first competitive outing of the year, American swimmer Katie Ledecky came close to another world record on Wednesday evening in Austin, at the inaugural stage of the USA Swimming Pro Series. In the fastest heat of the women's 1,500 freestyle, Ledecky swam virtually alone, lapping all the other competitors in the race and winning by over a minute. Ledecky passed the 800-metre mark in 8:13.09, faster than the first world record set in the 800 freestyle in 2013, and from then on, every 50-metre split was under 31 seconds. Ledecky finished in 15:23.21, three seconds off her all-time best of 15:20.48 set in 2018. She swam between one and two seconds behind her world record pace for most of the race, and a surge in the final stretch allowed Ledecky to record the second-fastest time in history.
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