World’s Fastest 1500m Freestyle – Women’s Long Course

World Record: Katie Ledecky 15:20.48
Olympic Record: Katie Ledecky 15:30.02 (NEW)
World Junior Record: Katie Ledecky 15:28.36
Commonwealth Record: Lauren Boyle 15:40.14

Top 6 All-time Performers:

1. Katie Ledecky (28.09, 30.41, 30.76, 30.99, 30.86, 31.39, 31.21, 31.17, 30.98, 30.96, 30.70, 30.77, 30.99, 30.85, 30.75, 30.82, 30.82, 30.68, 30.76, 30.87, 30.60, 30.72, 30.90, 30.89, 30.68, 30.81, 30.84, 30.44, 30.55, 29.22) 15:20.48
2. Lotte Friis (28.39, 30.76, 30.49, 31.07, 30.87, 31.28, 31.14, 31.26, 31.20, 31.51, 31.13, 31.58, 31.46, 31.84, 31.33, 31.85, 31.57, 31.74, 31.56, 31.58, 31.48, 31.76, 31.48, 31.78, 31.56, 31.87, 31.38, 31.62, 31.59, 30.75) 15:38.88
3. Lauren Boyle (29.41, 31.43, 31.56, 31.39, 31.47, 31.59, 31.51, 31.55, 31.45, 31.27, 31.41, 31.44, 31.24, 31.21, 31.38, 31.31, 31.29, 31.48, 31.33, 31.33, 31.45, 31.52, 31.60, 31.43, 31.44, 31.63, 31.72, 31.38, 31.40, 30.52) 15:40.14
4. Anastasiia Kirpichnikova 15:40.35
5. Simona Quadarella (29.20, 30.93, 30.71, 31.18, 30.82, 31.29, 31.13, 31.36, 31.17, 31.36, 31.14, 31.45, 31.38, 31.79, 31.41, 31.63, 31.52, 31.72, 31.50, 31.81, 31.76, 31.84, 31.78, 31.96, 31.72, 32.03, 31.79, 31.78, 31.33, 30.40) 15:40.89
6. Isabel Gose 15.41.16
7. Erica Sullivan (29.68, 31.56, 31.67, 31.97, 32.21, 32.01, 31.82, 31.81, 31.70, 31.56, 31.45, 31.43, 31.33, 31.37, 31.49, 31.34, 31.52, 31.43, 31.33, 31.50, 31.25, 31.37, 31.08, 31.20, 31.13, 31.12, 31.03, 31.07, 31.20, 30.78) 15:41.41
8. Kate Ziegler (29.23, 31.26, 31.60, 31.37, 31.17, 31.57, 31.60, 31.53, 31.54, 31.60, 31.79, 31.68, 31.59, 31.56, 31.43, 31.51, 31.34, 31.51, 31.65, 31.67, 31.45, 31.51, 31.72, 31.75, 31.38, 31.99, 31.59, 31.72, 31.42, 29.27) 15:42.54

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The chart below compares the World’s fastest 1500m Freestyle swimmers. Swimmers and coaches can looks at the individual Splits, Stroke Counts and the first 50m split compared to swimmers 50m PB. All swim data has been collected from our team reviewing race footage where possible.

Women's 1500m Freestyle - Long Course
	Katie Ledecky	Lotte Friis	Lauren Boyle	Simona Quadarella	Erica Sullivan	Kate Ziegler
Height:	6 ft 0 in 183cm	6 ft 0 in 184cm	6 ft 0 in 183cm	5 ft 7 in 170cm		6 ft 0 in 183cm
Weight:	160Ib 73kg	159Ib 72kg	1148Ib 67kg	139Ib 63kg		161 Ib 73kg
Country:	USA	DEN	NZL	ITA	USA	USA
DOB:	1997-03-17	1988-02-09	1987-12-14	1998-12-18	2000-08-09	1988-06-27
Meet:	2018 Indianapolis PSS	15th FINA World Championships 2013	16th FINA World Championships 2015	18th FINA World Championships 2019	Tokyo Olympics 2020 (2021)	2007 CA SMC
1st 50m Split	28.09	28.39	29.41	29.20	29.68	29.23
Strokes	36	35		41
Split Time:	28.09	28.39	29.41	29.20	29.68	29.23
50m PB:	25.45	28.34	26.52	28.51
Time off 50m PB:	2.64	0.05	2.89	0.69
Percentage of 50m PB:	110.373%	100.176%	110.897%	102.420%
2nd 50m Split	30.41	30.76	31.43	30.93	31.56	31.26
Strokes	40	42		47
Split Time:	58.50	59.15	1.00.84	1.00.13	1:01.24	1.00.49
3rd 50m Split	30.76	30.49	31.56	30.71	31.67	31.60
Strokes	40	41
Split Time:	1.29.26	1.29.64	1.32.40	1.30.84	1:32.91	1.32.09
4th 50m Split	30.99	31.07	31.39	31.18	31.97	31.37
Strokes	39	42		47
Split Time:	2.00.25	2.00.71	2.03.79	2.02.02	2:04.88	2.03.46
5th 50m Split	30.86	30.87	31.47	30.82	32.21	31.17
Strokes	38	41		46
Split Time:	2.31.11	2.31.58	2.35.26	2.32.82	2:37.09	2.35.17
6th 50m Split	31.39	31.28	31.59	31.29	32.01	31.57
Strokes	38	41		47
Split Time:	3.02.50	3.02.86	3.06.85	3.04.13	3:09.10	3.06.74
7th 50m Split	31.21	31.14	31.51	31.13	31.82	31.60
Strokes	38	41		47
Split Time:	3.33.71	3.34.00	3.38.36	3.35.26	3:40.92	3.38.34
8th 50m Split	31.17	31.26	31.55	31.36	31.81	31.53
Strokes	38	42		47
Split Time:	4.04.88	4.05.26	4.09.91	4.06.62	4:12.73	4.09.87
9th 50m Split	30.98	31.20	31.45	31.17	31.70	31.54
Strokes	38	41		46
Split Time:	4.35.86	4.36.46	4.41.36	4.37.79	4:44.43	4.41.41
10th 50m Split	30.96	31.51	31.27	31.36	31.56	31.60
Strokes	39	41		47
Split Time:	5.06.82	5.07.97	5.12.63	5.09.15	5:15.99	5.13.01
11th 50m Split	30.70	31.13	31.41	31.14	31.45	31.79
Strokes	40	41		47
Split Time:	5.37.52	5.39.10	5.44.04	5.40.29	5:47.44	5.44.80
12th 50m Split	30.77	31.58	31.44	31.45	31.43	31.68
Strokes	39	41		46
Split Time:	6.08.29	6.10.68	6.15.48	6.11.74	6:18.87	6.16.48
13th 50m Split	30.99	31.46	31.24	31.38	31.33	31.59
Strokes	40	41		47
Split Time:	6.39.28	6.42.14	6.46.72	6.43.12	6:50.20	6.48.07
14th 50m Split	30.85	31.84	31.21	31.79	31.37	31.56
Strokes	40	41		47
Split Time:	7.10.13	7.13.98	7.17.93	7.14.91	7:21.57	7.19.63
15th 50m Split	30.75	31.33	31.38	31.41	31.49	31.43
Strokes	40	42		47
Split Time:	7.40.88	7.45.31	7.49.31	7.46.32	7:53.06	7.51.06
16th 50m Split	30.82	31.85	31.31	31.63	31.34	31.51
Strokes	40	42		48
Split Time:	8.11.70	8.17.16	8.20.62	8.17.95	8:24.40	8.22.57
17th 50m Split	30.82	31.57	31.29	31.52	31.52	31.34
Strokes	40	41		48
Split Time:	8.42.52	8.48.73	8.51.91	8.49.47	8:55.92	8.53.91
18th 50m Split	30.68	31.74	31.48	31.72	31.43	31.51
Strokes	40	41		47
Split Time:	9.13.20	9.20.47	9.23.39	9.21.19	9:27.35	9.25.42
19th 50m Split	30.76	31.56	31.33	31.50	31.33	31.65
Strokes	40	41		49
Split Time:	9.43.96	9.52.03	9.54.72	9.52.69	9:58.68	9.57.07
20th 50m Split	30.87	31.58	31.33	31.81	31.50	31.67
Strokes	40	40		48
Split Time:	10.14.83	10.23.61	10.26.05	10.24.50	10:30.18	10.28.74
21st 50m Split	30.6	31.48	31.45	31.76	31.25	31.45
Strokes	40	41		48
Split Time:	10.45.43	10.55.09	10.57.50	10.56.26	11:01.43	11.00.19
22nd 50m Split	30.72	31.76	31.52	31.84	31.37	31.51
Strokes	38	41		48
Split Time:	11.16.15	11.26.85	11.29.02	11.28.10	11:32.80	11.31.70
23rd 50m Split	30.90	31.48	31.60	31.78	31.08	31.72
Strokes	39	41		48
Split Time:	11.47.05	11.58.33	12.00.62	11.59.88	12:03.88	12.03.42
24th 50m Split	30.89	31.78	31.43	31.96	31.20	31.75
Strokes	39	41		48
Split Time:	12.17.94	12.30.11	12.32.05	12.31.84	12:35.08	12.35.17
25th 50m Split	30.68	31.56	31.44	31.72	31.13	31.38
Strokes	40	42		48
Split Time:	12.48.62	13.01.67	13.03.49	13.03.56	13:06.21	13.06.55
26th 50m Split	30.81	31.87	31.63	32.03	31.12	31.99
Strokes	40	42		48
Split Time:	13.19.43	13.33.54	13.35.12	13.35.59	13:37.33	13.38.54
27th 50m Split	30.84	31.38	31.72	31.79	31.03	31.59
Strokes	40	42		48
Split Time:	13.50.27	14.04.92	14.06.84	14.07.38	14:08.36	14.10.13
28th 50m Split	30.44	31.62	31.38	31.78	31.07	31.72
Strokes	41	41		48
Split Time:	14.20.71	14.36.54	14.38.22	14.39.16	14:39.43	14.41.85
29th 50m Split	30.55	31.59	31.40	31.33	31.20	31.42
Strokes	40	43		48
Split Time:	14.51.26	15.08.13	15.09.62	15.10.49	15:10.63	15.13.27
30th 50m Split	29.22	30.75	30.52	30.40	30.78	29.27
Strokes	41	44		47
Total Time:	15:20.48	15:38.88	15:40.14	15:40.89	15:41.41	15:42.54

Here is Katie Ledecky’s 1500m Freestyle World Record swim to view.

Swimmers from the World’s Fastest 1500m Freestyle list above that progress to the Women’s 800m Long Course are Katie Ledecky, and Simona Quadarella.

Katie Ledecky is the only swimmer to progress with a top 5 ranking in the 200m, 400m, 800m and Women’s 1500m Freestyle Long Course.

Statistical Insights:

• Time Differences:
  • The top 6 all-time performers are separated by 22.06 seconds. This range underscores the competitive nature of the event and the elite standards required to excel.
• Average Time of Top 6 Performers:
  • The average time of the top 6 swimmers is approximately 15:37.73, highlighting the benchmark for elite performance in this event.
• Pacing Strategies:
  • Analysis of splits reveals that most top performers maintain an even pace throughout the race, with slight variations depending on individual strategies and strengths. A strong closing 200 meters is often key to achieving top times.

Note: World’s Fastest 1500m Freestyle Update July 2024