:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/457KOMUFOVGJLC7VEHERMTW2ZQ.jpg "Down goes Ledecky! The American suffers a shock loss in the pool 1")
US swimming champion Katie Ledecky hasn’t lost a race in her home country in nearly a decade, but as the saying goes, records are made to be broken.
At a Pro Series swim meet in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Ledecky saw his winning streak come to an end. Summer McIntosh beat Ledecky in the 200m freestyle by 0.83 seconds with a time of 1:54.13.
The 16-year-old Canadian is no stranger to the big stage. She participated in the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics at age 14, the youngest member of the Canadian national team. She also set a new junior world record in the 200m butterfly.
“She’s an incredible runner and I’ve always looked up to her,” McIntosh said after her win. “She’s the greatest freestyler ever, and being able to ride her is always an amazing experience and I’ve always learned a lot.”
The last time Ledecky lost a 200m or longer open course race in the United States was in 2014 when she lost to fellow American Allison Schmitt.
Could this event mark a change in the hierarchy of the sport or was it just a one-off event?
Ledecky has seven Olympic gold medals as well as 19 world championship gold medals. She excels in the longer freestyle races and has won Olympic gold in the last three 800m freestyle events.
At the 2022 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Ledecky won gold in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle, as well as the 4x200m freestyle relay. McIntosh won silver in the 400m freestyle. The Canadian teenager won gold in the 200m butterfly and the 400m individual medley.
She is sure to be a big favorite at Paris 2024, while Ledecky is yet to confirm her schedule for next year’s Summer Olympics.