The women's 1500 metre freestyle event at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held on 30 and 31 July 2024 at Paris La Défense Arena, which was converted to a swimming pool for the swimming events.[1] Since an Olympic size swimming pool is 50 metres long, each competitor had to swim 30 lengths of the pool.
In the final, Ledecky led from beginning to end to win the gold medal with a new Olympic record of 15:30.02. Her win made her the first female swimmer to win gold at four Olympics, and gave her the top twenty fastest times ever in the event. Kirpichnikova finished second with 15:40.35 and Germany's Isabel Gose finished third with 15:53.27.
Background
The USA's defending Olympic champion Katie Ledecky held the 19 fastest times ever recorded in the event, which were topped by her 15:20.48 world record set in 2018.[2] She won the event at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships and held the fastest Olympic qualifying time of 15:26.27.[2][3]Italy's Simona Quadrella held the second fastest qualifying time of 15:43.31, and won the event at the 2019 and 2024 World Championships in Ledecky's absence.[2]
Other contenders included Li Bingjie of China, the 2023 World Championships bronze medallist and third fastest qualifier; Anastasiya Kirpichnikova of France, the fourth fastest qualifier; AustralianLani Pallister, the 2022 World Championships bronze medallist; and the USA's Katie Grimes, the 2022 World Championships silver medallist.[2]
Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was permitted to enter a maximum of two qualified athletes in each individual event, but only if both of them had attained the Olympic Qualifying Time (OQT).[5] For this event, the OQT was 16:09.09. World Aquatics then considered athletes qualifying through universality; NOCs were given one event entry for each gender, which could be used by any athlete regardless of qualification time, providing the spaces had not already been taken by athletes from that nation who had achieved the OQT.[5][6] Finally, the rest of the spaces were filled by athletes who had met the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT), which was 16:13.94 for this event.[5] In total, 14 athletes qualified through achieving the OQT, one athlete qualified through a universality place and two athletes qualified through achieving the OCT.[6]
Three heats took place on 30 July 2024, starting at 11:51.[a][7] The swimmers with the best eight times in the heats advanced to the final.[8] Ledecky qualified with the fastest time of 15:47.43, and Quadarella qualified with the second fastest time of 15:51.19. Pallister withdrew from the event after testing positive for COVID-19, and Grimes did not swim fast enough to qualify for the final.[9]Singapore's Gan Ching Hwee set a new national record of 16:10.13 but did not qualify.[10][7]
The final took place at 21:13 on 31 July.[11] Ledecky led from beginning to end to win the gold medal with a new Olympic record of 15:30.02.[12] This was the eighth fastest swim of all time in the event, meaning Ledecky had swum the top 20 performances ever in the event's history.[13]
Kirpichnikova, Germany's Isabel Gose and Quadarella were close to each other for most the race. Kirpichnikova touched first to win the silver medal with a new French record of 15:40.35, while Gose finished with a new German record of 15:41.16 for the bronze. Quadarella finished fourth with 15:44.05.[12] It was Kirpichnikova and Gose's first Olympic medals.[14]
Ledecky's gold brought her to a total of 8 Olympic golds and 12 Olympic medals in her career. She was tied for the most decorated American female Olympic swimmer.[12] Her win also made her the first female swimmer to win gold at four Olympics.[15]
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