(Reuters) -American swimming great Katie Ledecky showed she has lost none of her edge as she threatened her 1,500 metres freestyle world record in Florida on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old's stunning swim of 15:24.51 at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in Fort Lauderdale was her fastest since resetting her world record (15:20.48) in Indianapolis in 2018.
"I'm pretty fired up," said Ledecky, who beat runner-up Jillian Cox by nearly 40 seconds.
"I’ve been training really well and feeling good going into this meet, but you never know.
"It’s not like it’s the biggest meet of the year or anything, I just wanted (my time) to be a season best, which would have been 15:36. I’m pretty ecstatic."
Ledecky, the most decorated female Olympic swimmer with nine gold medals, remains the benchmark in the longer distances, sweeping the 800m and 1,500m titles at both Paris and Tokyo 2020.
Her Fort Lauderdale swim virtually assures her of being favourite for the 1,500m at the world championships in Singapore in July-August.
Ledecky skipped last year's world championships in Doha where Italy's Simona Quadarella took the 800 and 1,500m crowns.
But Ledecky, who is targeting more Olympic glory at Los Angeles 2028, has never been beaten at either distance in global events since winning her first world golds at Barcelona in 2013.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
