By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
See all of our 2025 Swammy Awards right here.
Up to now 12 months, deciding the highest U.S. feminine swimmer has turn out to be more and more difficult, with quite a few defining moments from a number of home skills within the sport. Gretchen Walsh, Kate Douglass, and Katie Ledecky every made compelling instances all year long, every with campaigns that may be justified as causes they need to win. Nonetheless, a winner have to be topped, and this 12 months’s Swammy Award in the end goes to Katie Ledecky for one of the vital exceptional seasons in her illustrious profession.
A deciding issue among the many three finalists for this Swammy award was that Ledecky was the one swimmer to win three particular person World Championship medals, whereas additionally being one of many two to interrupt a long-course World Report in 2025.
Ledecky reaffirmed her broadly regarded “Biggest of All Time” standing again in Might in Fort Lauderdale on the Professional Swim Collection (LCM) to kick off her 2025 marketing campaign. Breaking her personal World Report within the 800 freestyle in a blistering 8:04.12, clipping her 2016 document time of 8:04.79, a regular she set at 19 years previous, and broke at 28 in entrance of an electrical Fort Lauderdale viewers.
“I can’t cease smiling, it’s been like that each one week, although, so it’s probably not new. It’s been so a few years within the making to do it tonight. It’s been an unimaginable night time. There may be all the time a narrative to every world document that I set,” Ledecky instructed USA Swimming following her race. I flipped on the 750, and it was loud in right here, and I simply instructed myself I’m not letting this chance go to waste and began sprinting,”
Ledecky confirmed to be in world-record kind all through a lot of the race, opening her first 400 in 3:58.22, which on the time would have slotted her 4th all-time within the particular person 400 free. Ledecky exited the pool with seen emotion on her face.
Past simply the World Report, Ledecky notched her 2nd quickest occasions within the 400 free (3:56.81) and the 1500 free (15:24.51) in Fort Lauderdale, kicking off her 2025 season in speedy vogue.
The momentum of that degree was simple to hold over to the US Nationwide Championships in Indianapolis in June. Ledecky cruised to a trio of wins within the 400 free (3:58.56), 800 free (8:05.76), and the 1500 free (15:36.76). Ledecky additionally added a silver medal end within the 200 free in 1:55.26, to earn her a return to the American ladies’s 4×200 free relay.
Then got here the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore (LCM), the place Ledecky was set to tackle the more and more deep expertise all through the ladies’s mid-distance and distance freestyle occasions. On the opening night time, Ledecky completed third within the 400 free in 3:58.49 behind rising Canadian famous person Summer time McIntosh and China’s Li Bingjie. That end would come to be her lowest of your complete meet.
Ledecky’s subsequent check got here within the 1500 freestyle, an occasion that she has been untouchable in all through her stellar profession. Ledecky dominated the sector, briefly spooking her personal 2018 World Report as she was underneath that tempo via the primary 1050 meters. She in the end put down the fifth quickest 1500 freestyle in historical past in 15:26.44, simply over 5 seconds forward of Italy’s Simona Quadrella (15:31.76).
Ledecky then anchored the American 4×200 free relay in 1:53.71, serving to safe a relay silver for Group USA.
All roads led to the 800 freestyle ultimate; Ledecky, McIntosh, and Lani Pallister headlined the occasion and delivered a spectacle of swimming. The three of them battled, with no person absolutely separating themselves all through the 16 laps. McIntosh held the head-to-head lead in Singapore, having overwhelmed Ledecky simply days earlier within the 400 free, even turning first on the 700-meter wall. Ledecky couldn’t be counted out, clocking 30.24 to place her again in entrance, and shutting in 29.53 to the touch the wall first in a championship document effort of 8:05.62, simply over three tenths of a second forward of Pallister (8:05.98). Pallister surged dwelling in 29.11 to overhaul McIntosh and almost catch the Olympic Champion Ledecky.
The win for Ledecky marked her seventh consecutive world title within the 800 free (excluding 2024’s occasion). Ledecky now owns 23 profession long-course World Championship titles.
Ledecky closed out her 12 months in the same method that she began it, in record-setting vogue. On the inaugural Katie Ledecky Invitational (SCY), Ledecky herself solely raced one occasion, the 1650 free, the place she threw down the quickest time in historical past in 14:59.62, the primary girl to ever break the 15-minute time barrier, decreasing her personal high time of 15:01.41 from March of 2023.
Ledecky was by no means too far off the document, however hadn’t formally turned underneath her document time till the 1300-yard mark. Ledecky continued to construct via the final 350 yards, in the end stopping the clock just below two seconds sooner than her earlier document time.
Honorable Mentions:
Gretchen Walsh: Walsh’s success in 2025 spans each pool, from yards to meters, and he or she discovered the very best degree of success each domestically and internationally. She broke quite a few obstacles within the sport, together with being the primary girl to swim sub-45 within the 100-yard freestyle (44.71), the primary girl to swim sub-47 within the 100 butterfly (46.97), and the primary girl underneath 55 seconds within the long-course 100 fly (54.60). Walsh was awarded the Honda Cup, recognizing the highest feminine collegiate athlete throughout all sports activities. She collected a pair of world championship titles (50 fly, 100 fly). She completed 2nd within the total standings on the World Cup (SCM) (177.3 factors), simply 0.2 factors behind Kate Douglass (177.5), and set the short-course 50 fly World document in 23.72 within the course of.
Kate Douglass: Douglass defended her 200 breast Olympic title in Singapore, additional cementing herself as among the finest to do it within the occasion; setting an American, and Championship document in her gold medal effort 2:18.50. She additionally added a 100 breaststroke silver in 1:05.27, and acted as a key piece to 3 medal profitable U.S. relays, together with her 1:04.27 cut up on the world document 4×100 medley relay stands because the fifth quickest cut up in historical past. Her short-course showings additional elevated her case for this award. Most notably, breaking the 100 free World Report twice on the ultimate cease in Toronto, and turning into the primary sub-50 performer within the occasion’s historical past in a groundbreaking 49.93. Douglass went on to complete atop the person standings in 177.5 factors, accumulating $182,000 over the three-week World Cup.
Earlier Winners:
2024 – Gretchen Walsh
2023 – Kate Douglass
2022 – Katie Ledecky
2021 – Katie Ledecky
2020 – Lilly King
2019 – Simone Manuel
2018 – Katie Ledecky
2017 – Katie Ledecky
2016 – Katie Ledecky
2015 – Katie Ledecky
2014 – Katie Ledecky
2013 – Katie Ledecky
Learn the complete story on SwimSwam: 2025 Swammy Awards: U.S. Feminine Swimmer of the Yr – Katie Ledecky
