Americans Katie Ledecky and Gretchen Walsh added to the legend of the Hall of Fame Aquatic Complex with World Record performances on the last day of the TYR Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Two thousand sixteen was considered to be the peak year in Katie Ledecky’s career. At age 19, she won Olympic gold medals in the 200m, 400m, and 800m freestyle events, obliterating the world records in the latter two to 3:56.46 and 8:04.79, respectively. It was her final meet with her club team at Nation’s Capital Swim Club with coach Bruce Gemmell, and was the end of an unprecedented three year run where she broke 13 world records in that span.
In the nine years since, although she won two more Olympic gold medals in the 800m and 1500m freestyle events, and cemented her status as perhaps the greatest swimmer ever, her world records from her teenage years remained.
In the eyes of many, that was just fine. Although her 400m world record had since been beaten by two different people, her winning times in the 800m and 1500m at the World Championships and Olympics were still faster than anyone had gone before. Her status, if it hadn’t already been mutually agreed upon, as the greatest female swimmer of all-time was safe, no matter how the next few years in her career went as she reached the end of her 20s.
But every great athlete has that one final run that cements their legacy. When all is said and done, they still have a little bit of magic left. For Tiger Woods, it was the 2019 Masters. For Tom Brady, it was the 2020 Super Bowl. For Serena Williams, it was the 2022 US Open.
For Ledecky, that magic was on display this past weekend in Fort Lauderdale at the TYR Pro Swim Series.
When she went 15:24 in the 1500m freestyle on Wednesday night at the newly renovated Hall of Fame pool just across the street from the Atlantic Ocean, it was the start of something special.
On Thursday, against perhaps the best swimmer in the world right now, Summer McIntosh, Ledecky won the 400m freestyle and saw 3:56 on the scoreboard for the first time since the Rio Olympics - a 3:56.81.
“I don’t know if I ever thought I was going to be 3:56 again,” Ledecky said pool-side after the 400m freestyle, choking back tears in the process.
“I don’t know if I ever thought I was going to be 3:56 again.”
Those swims led to anticipation over how fast she could go in the 800m freestyle. Was a world record possible? Surely not, right? That 8:04 was so far out there that it hadn’t really been thought of to be beaten for generations.
The closest she had been since Rio? 8:07.07 at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships.
Before the last night of finals on Saturday night in Fort Lauderdale, Ledecky visualised what splits she could hold to go 8:04.6.
When she touched the wall after 800 meters, the scoreboard read 8:04.12.
“I can’t stop smiling,” Ledecky said after the 800m. “It’s been like that all week though so it’s not really new. It’s been so many years in the making. To do it tonight, it’s been an incredible night.”
The Pro Series was being held at the newly renovated Hall of Fame pool which was reopened in 2022 after the city of Fort Lauderdale pledged $27 million in renovations back in 2018.
The pool had once been a destination for some of the best aquatic athletes in the world, hosting many of the best swimmers of all-time in their careers. Since the facility first opened in 1965, ten World Records had been set in the facility, from names like Mary T. Meagher to Martin Zubero to more recent names like Natalie Coughlin and Michael Phelps.
Those names are immortalized on the wall outside the facility. Although the pool looks much different now than it did in 2002 when Phelps and Coughlin broke their records, the history stays.
Former ISHOF CEO Brent Rutemiller, who died last year after multiple battles with cancer, was one of the key figures in getting the renovations approved back in 2018, with the vision that the pool would once again host some of the biggest meets in the world.
“All the aquatic sports think of Fort Lauderdale as their second home,” Rutemiller said after the renovations were first approved seven years ago. “There will be a resurgence of events and activities as this venue returns to its world-class status.”
Rutemiller was my boss in my days when I worked with Swimming World Magazine and the International Swimming Hall of Fame. In my first month on the job, I sat in the City Council meeting when they voted yes to the $27 million renovation. I knew the pool was a big deal to people, but that moment changed everything for the future of the relationship between aquatic sports and that city.
You can smell the ocean from the pool deck. It is outdoors in sunny south Florida. There’s an intimate feel on the deck when you’re walking around. The restaurants and hotels are within walking distance of the place. Fast swimmers loved coming there and they showed out big time.
Flash forward seven years later, the pool is once again a destination for fast swimming, just what Rutemiller envisioned.
Ledecky, a connoisseur of swimming history, was well aware of the pool’s aura.
“I saw this morning after Gretchen broke the World Record that there’s a wall where they list all the world records, so I’m excited to be added to that,” Ledecky said after her record-breaking swim.
“My mom swam at the equivalent of NCAAs - AIAW, back in the 70s here. So I know she looked back at some of the old magazines at the Hall of Fame and found her name.”
Ledecky’s world record came just hours after fellow American Gretchen Walsh broke her own record, somewhat surprisingly, in the heats of the 100m butterfly, swimming 55.09 to lower her 55.18 from last year’s Olympic Trials.
After Ledecky swam her 8:04, surely enough, Walsh followed up with another record of her own in finals, becoming the first woman inside 55 seconds in the 100m butterfly at 54.60.
“I didn’t change any part of my race strategy,” Walsh said after becoming the first woman to go 54 seconds. “It was still going to be the goal of 17 strokes on the way out and then one less stroke, hopefully was going to give me more energy coming home because that’s where I always struggled - the last 15m.
“I have found that taking one less stroke has given me that extra energy and I did the exact same thing tonight. I was long into my turn and long into my finish as well, which I am kind of happy about because that means I can go faster.”
Walsh has been on a tear since finishing with the silver medal in the 100m butterfly at last summer’s Olympics, setting nine individual world records at the World Short Course Championships last December, and becoming the first woman inside 47 seconds in the 100 butterfly in short course yards.
Now Walsh has added to her own legacy as the first woman inside 55 in long course, as well as to the Hall of Fame Pool’s legacy as one of the fastest pools in the world.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m not surprised she swam that fast but it wasn’t expected,” Walsh’s coach Todd DeSorbo said. “She hasn’t raced long course since the Olympics, so it’s been ten months.”
In front of a packed house on Saturday night, Walsh and Ledecky reminded the swimming world why the city of Fort Lauderdale was right in resurrecting the facility after it was practically unusable before its facelift.
I sat with Rutemiller in numerous meetings about the future of the facility back in 2019. One of the things he insisted in conversations with sponsors was that the world record wall would remain, no matter what the new facility would look like.
“The history of this pool is important. We have to honor it,” Rutemiller told me numerous times when I worked for him.
The history indeed has stayed, and the next generation is following suit. Rutemiller wasn’t around to see it, but I know he’s smiling down.
Contributing: Gregory Eggert