Katie Ledecky is already dominating her NCAA competition in jaw-dropping fashion, lapping her competition in a race she won by 35 seconds
Although she won five gold medals at the Rio Olympics and has set 13 world records over the course of her swim career, Katie Ledecky is also a 19-year-old Stanford freshman just three meets into her NCAA career.
As it turns out, collegiate competition is no match for the best swimmer alive.
Over the weekend, in a duel meet against Texas, Ledecky won the 1,000-meter freestyle by a whopping 34.85 seconds, giving her the NCAA record in the event by more than 10 seconds. By the time Ledecky had 200 meters left in the event, she had already lapped every other swimmer in the pool. At least one swimmer was lapped twice.
Perhaps most shockingly of all, Ledecky's time against Texas (9:10.49) paled in comparison to her own American record in the same event (8:59.65).
Along with her NCAA record in the 1,000, Ledecky has also already set new Stanford records in both the 500-meter and 200-meter freestyle events. In other words, every race she has swam so far in college has resulted in a new record.
In the 500, her time (4:33.94) is three seconds shy of the current NCAA record (4:30.37), but nowhere near her own American record in the same vent (4:26.58). In the 200, meanwhile, Ledecky's time is five seconds slower than Missy Franklin's NCAA and American record (1:39.10).
Ledecky currently owns the world record in the 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1500-meter freestyle events. For Stanford, she will swim the 200, 500, 1,000 and 1,600-meter freestyle.
Something tells us that she'll set a few more records during her four years at Stanford.