Since the 2013 World Cup in Berlin, after Mireia Belmonte won three medals at the World Cup in Barcelona that summer, The woman from Badalona had the best mark in history in the 800 free test in a 25-meter pool. A cap that has been about to last a decade. Until Katie Ledecky has ventured to swim this type of competition in the non-Olympic pool, where turns are essential, and has achieved a new world record. It was this Spanish morning, late in Indianapolis (United States), where a new season of the World Cup was held.
The American was setting the best times in each of the sections. She has gone through 1:56.63 in the 200 and 3:56.64 in the 400, three seconds below a Mireia who finally left the mark that August 2013 at 7:59.34. It was the first time in history that a swimmer dropped below eight minutes in this test. Ledecky has achieved the best mark with a final time of 7:57.42, becoming the fastest ever, third woman to lose those eight minutes. The Spanish, who now faces the final stretch of her career far from her best marks, still holds the 200 butterfly and 400 med records.
Two weeks ago, Ledecky already achieved the world record of the 1,500 free with practically ten seconds to spare, a fact that speaks for itself of the distance between the triple Olympic champion and her rivals, and the fiction of the records in the long-distance tests until the one from Washington has also launched to swim in a 25-meter pool. Already in those 1,500 free, he had already threatened to break the 800m record by swimming that part of the test with a time of 8:00.58, one second behind Mireia’s record. And two weeks later she has made it happen.