Katie Ledecky didn’t need the clock to know the competition was close. After she touched the wall at the end of the 800-meter freestyle final in Singapore, however, she had to check it, because, for once, there was no certainty in the result. Summer McIntosh had led most of the way. Lani Pallister was surging. And when she ascertained her victory, she knew that, even at 28, she still had impeccable timing. Her 8:05.62 was enough to hold them off, barely, and with it came her seventh world title in the event. That she didn’t dominate as she had been wont to served only to sharpen the moment. “I was just happy I was up there,” she said.
In the lead-up, the race was billed as one of the greatest showdowns in swimming history outside of the Olympics — a generational duel between the sport’s past and its future. McIntosh, a teenager already with an established reputation as a winner, had the momentum. Ledecky boasted of pedigree. And their contrasting styles — the former’s aggressive front-running against the latter’s inevitable close — effectively turned it from a title defense to a referendum on where the balance of power rests.
For McIntosh, the bronze was no failure. At 18, she had already taken four individual golds in the championships. Pallister, too, was just a tad behind, setting a personal best. There was a sense the podium had begun to tilt toward the next generation. For now, though, Ledecky remains at the center, the only swimmer ever to win the same event at eight straight global meets. It’s a legacy borne as much of dominance as of endurance. Which begs the question: How long can the veteran stay at the top?
For all intents, the 800 Ledecky won was a measuring stick. It was far from a foregone conclusion; it offered tension, nuance, and a rare kind of clarity. Only in the last 50 meters did she take the lead, and then keep it. In so doing, she reminded all and sundry the value of persistence versus potential. If nothing else, she proved that she remains THE standard by which everyone else is measured. The next wave may already be at hand, but, for one more night, in her signature event, she endured.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994. He is a consultant on strategic planning, operations and human resources management, corporate communications, and business development.
