Ledecky's Wednesday time in Fort Lauderdale of 15 minutes, 24.51 seconds was the second-fastest in 1500m freestyle history. She won her heat by 39 seconds, lapping four of the other nine swimmers in the race. The only faster time on record is Ledecky's own 2018 world record of 15 minutes, 20.48 seconds recorded in 2018.

As if there was any doubt, Katie Ledecky is still very fast at swimming. Ledecky took to the pool for her first top-level race since the Paris Olympics on Wednesday and posted the second-fastest 1,500m freestyle in history with a time of 15 minutes, 24.51 seconds, per Nick Zaccardi of NBC Sports.