From the very start, this was different from any 800-meter freestyle Katie Ledecky had ever swum. The usual empty water that surrounds her as she crushes the competition, racing only herself, was gone.

She had company to her left, company to her right. Someone was there every single time she took a breath—pressing her, chasing her, testing the depth of her greatness. They never went away.

That didn’t come as a surprise to Ledecky. Her lifetime undefeated streak in this race at major international competitions, dating back to 2012, was under siege at these World Aquatics Championships in Singapore, and she knew it. The primary competitor was Canadian teenage monster Summer McIntosh, who defeated Ledecky in the 400 freestyle last week and became the second-fastest 800 swimmer in history in June. But Australian Lani Pallister was a looming threat as well after taking out the 1,500 right on Ledecky’s hip for the first half of that race.

Ledecky was in Lane 4. McIntosh in Lane 3. Pallister in Lane 5. This was a pressure sandwich.

The 50-meter splits reflect the dead-even nature of this taut battle across eight-plus minutes: Ledecky led for the first 13 splits, but her largest advantage in that span over the stalking McIntosh was .43 seconds. Pallister was right there as well, always within a half-second. There was no ebb and flow, just three elite freestylers pounding out punishing splits. Nobody backing down.

Finally, at the 700-meter mark, there was a move: McIntosh nudged ahead by .14. It looked, for the briefest of moments, like a symbolic changing of the guard. 

The 18-year-old came to Singapore with five of her fingernails painted gold, articulating her ambitious Summer Slam goal to win a quintet of individual events here. She’d already won three of them in dominant fashion: the 400 free, the 200 individual medley and the 200 butterfly. She will win the 400 IM, in which she holds the world record, easily on Sunday. The one in doubt was this 800, where she was shooting at The Queen. Now McIntosh was in front with 100 to go.

But the 28-year-old Ledecky kept her poise, stayed calm and responded. She accelerated, but didn’t empty the tank right away.

“At the end, I kind of just kept telling myself ‘trust, trust, trust,’” Ledecky said. “I had to go the whole way. The last 100, it’s like you don’t want to push it too early, because then you get a little afraid that you're going to die at the end.”

Ledecky is old by swimming standards, but she doesn’t die easily. There was too much work invested, too much pride taken, to let that teenager stay ahead.

She dropped a 30.24 50-meters on her competitors, her fastest split since the 150 mark, to re-take the lead at the final turn. Then she dug in for the last 50, going sub-30 and finally getting a wider crack of daylight on the competition. To Ledecky’s left, McIntosh was fading. To her right, Pallister was surging—but a little too late.

Ledecky touched the wall in 8:05.62, a championship record and her third-fastest time in the event she has owned for 13 years running. Pallister won silver in 8:05.98, a massive time drop from her previous personal best. McIntosh took bronze in 8:07.29. 

Until Saturday, there had never been a women’s 800 free in which two women both broke 8:10. This time there were three under 8:08. It was—without question—the greatest 800 freestyle in history, and one of the best distance races in history.

“It was a fabulous race, 8:07.29 getting third, that’s under the championship record,” Ledecky said. “We had such a fast field in there. I remember when I set the goal to break 8:10, and at the time I think that was a really crazy goal. And now to see three in one heat under that is awesome and it was really fun to be a part of it.”

It has been fun for everyone to be part of the Ledecky Era, which began when a shy 15-year-old won an unexpected Olympic gold medal in the 800 in London in 2012. She has redefined distance swimming, turning the most tedious events into must-watch spectacles as she’s broken world records and destroyed competitors. The sight that never got old was Ledecky swimming one direction, half a pool length ahead, while everyone else was going the other way, trying vainly to catch up.

The world has caught up in many ways, as this 800-meter race illustrated. But that’s what pioneers do—they clear the way for others to follow, showing what is possible, expanding previous limits.

Ledecky has now won the 800 seven times at the World Championships, the most gold medals in the same individual event in history. She’s also won six in the 1,500, taking that race in Singapore last week by five seconds. But the 800 is her baby.

“This is my favorite event,” Ledecky said. “It was my first gold. Even in practice, if I’m doing 800s, I kind of have this fake rule that I don’t lose 800s. So whenever we’re doing 800s in practice, that’s when I really try to get up there with Bobby [Finke, her training partner at Florida,] and I tell myself that. I love the mile as well. But you know, the first event that you do something special in is always going to mean a little more.”

Ledecky’s reign has been unbroken, but this year still has been something of a renaissance for her. She shocked the world (but not herself) in May by breaking her nine-year-old world record in the 800 at 8:04.12. After dealing with some health issues through 2024, her training told her she still had lifetime-best performances within.

But then McIntosh fired an 8:05 bullet back in June, part of a record-smashing tour de force at Canadian national trials. Time is undefeated, and it seemed as if the Summer of Summer was at hand. Already the world’s best in multiple events, she seemed poised to take this one, too.

In the end, though, McIntosh painted one too many fingernails gold. Trying to win five in a single meet, none at distances shorter than 200 meters, might have been an over-extension. She will have to appraise whether such an ambitious schedule is sustainable going forward toward the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

“I hate losing more than I like winning and I think that’s a mentality that I’ve carried with myself throughout my entire career,” McIntosh told Canadian media after the race. “That’s really what gets my hand on the wall first most of the time. The feeling right now is something that I never want to feel again.” 

It’s the feeling everyone has when they race Ledecky in this event. This epic battle was the closest yet—the best 800-meter freestyle ever—but it ended the same way as all of them since 2012. The Queen still reigns.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as It Was the Closest Race Yet, but Katie Ledecky Is Still the Queen of the 800 Freestyle, 13 Years and Counting.

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