Practice + Pancakes: Ledecky + Finke Go Head-to-Head in 15x100 Best Average

Let's skip the small talk. 2021 1500 Olympic Champions Bobby Finke and Katie Ledecky went head-to-head during a threshold practice which concluded with 15x100 best average. This is what it looked like:
15x100 BA
1@1:30
1@1:20
1@1:10
2@1:00
1@1:25
1@1:15
1@1:05
2@1:00
1@1:20
1@1:10
3@1:00
Bobby Finke's Times:
51
52
51
52
52
52.4
52.0
51.9
52.5
52.4
52.2
51.7
51.8
52.2
51.6
Katie Ledecky's Times:
53
53
53
53
53
53.1
52.9
52.8
53.2
52.9
53.0
52.2
52.2
52.8
52.4
Swimming news courtesy of SwimSwam.com (swimswam.com)
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[@TheMootPoint]

THIS was an incredible practice and pancakes. no music, just watching some incredible swimmers put in hard work. amazing! thank you!

[@lizzobeach5179]

Went a :53 from a push in practice and then held it. I could watch this stuff all day.

[@SakinaHouaoura]

Ledecky always amazed me by her talent and skills, going toe to toe with Bobby really impressive!!

[@mandala3042]

Katie really makes you rethink the limitations of women's swimming. Like, that's the fastest male distance swimmer in the world beside her, and she's holding her own. Granted, Finke is younger and you can tell he's not quite as polished in practice yet (there were some turns he clearly let go, and I'm sure being a collegiate athlete makes it a bit harder to be completely dialed in on every repeat), but wow. Simply inspiring. Not sure what was going on with the lane assignments, though. Seems odd she was in that lane with the other ladies if lapping people was going to be a concern. But what do I know, maybe it's part of some grand design for their program. It's just great to be able to see a few repeats in full.

[@luispastor8089]

Wtf are you talking about? Bobby gained distance in every turn.

[@jeff-ji3kh]

gets that "dudes competing" as women equal bias outta here. she's the GOAT distance all time. he's great.

[@kaitlynhafer5815]

I totally feel you. I wonder how everybody's training would improve if you let KL be in a lane with guys and chase them? There would be a lot of healthy competition and nobody would be in another's way. Thoughts?

[@jeff-ji3kh]

@@kaitlynhafer5815 what do you mean? she's been competing against guys in training her whole life. she's a once in 100 year athlete like phelps. Finkes come around every 5 years or so.

[@jeff-ji3kh]

@@kaitlynhafer5815 think it's better for the woman's distance GOAT to go head to head with the boys and not be on their draft. sure she feels the same. all the girls in Katie's lane are slower than the guys in finkes. so the best race eatchother. and the rest try to keep up.

[@kingofthenerds7925]

It's funny, being a distance swimmer, how I can exactly visualize how this kind of practice feels.

[@eliormalul8149]

Yeah, I hear your @kingofthenerds, my shoulders hurts just from looking at it

[@startledmilk6670]

New Years count down practices 400’s starting send off at 5:30 going down by 5 seconds until you can’t go anymore🙃

[@verward]

Just think about how crazy it is that Ledecky can do the exact same practive with interval etc as the men's olympic champ in the 1500. She is beating an elite male college swimmer on every round. What the heck.

[@paulblue3290]

I have watched this video at six or seven different times and each time my jaw drops at the set Katie L put down. You can’t help but be awestruck. I am looking forward to seeing her at this year’s World Championships and going head to head with Ariarne Titmus. If they are both at the top of their games their races against each other will be epics for the ages.

[@schwamar]

That was fabulous, thank you for posting this.

[@nombre5502]

This is going to be one of my favorites videos. It is just incredible. Thank you very much!!!

[@floridagators4life]

Nice to see two of my favorite swimmers!

[@johnboyle18]

I wouldn't want to be the girl holding up Ledecky on the last 100 of that set

[@sofiazulqarnain4509]

This is an phenomenal example of how hard you have to work to achieve Olympic dreams! and all these swimmers really have what it takes!

[@dannap8831]

one of the coolest P&P yet dude wow! this is like being a fly on the wall.. the exact fly and exact wall I would have chosen too! what a great program it must be for these two legends to be in it. I bet the rest of the swimmers in this group are just bragging every day about who leads thier lane :D if i was in this practice I would try to beat Katie and Bobby on a lap once (each practice 🤔) even if it was warmdown or drill just to say I did 😆

[@misstramaine1981]

Queen Katie and Sir Bobby Finke have a brother and sister swim vibe going on. I love it!

[@user-gv6lg9hm8b]

Insanely fast both of them - amazing that Katy seemed to be less than a second behind on each 100. In exhausted watching them from my couch :0

[@tariqquadri6873]

ok this gave me chills

[@genevieve4679]

KL had to pass someone on that last one! She probably could have gone at least 0.5 secs faster!

[@michaelhannesschlager3230]

Is it possible to give more than one thumbs up?

[@eileenvernor832]

Always great to have some one a little faster to push a workout.

[@jorgeclar7852]

Impresionantes!!!!

[@TM-eo8eb]

No talking, no bs--pure intention!

[@Underw0rld4]

When was this filmed?

[@andystakauskas453]

Ahh Katie doing her thing🥱

[@williamallen1739]

Unbelievable not human

[@paveletoo]

is this yards or meters it should be written on description.

[@Rose-pv8gr]

25 yards

[@EclecticSundries]

Since they train together... doesn't that mean that YES it is everyday that they go head to head?

[@timgrills2306]

Mm

[@verward]

Well, you might expect there to be some separation. Ledecky is more of a 400 (and 200) freestyler on top of the long distances. Finke ofcourse does some IM (allthough ledecky might aswell). But importantly it might not be best for both swimmers to go head to head all the time. Bob bowman had this problem that around 2014 his middle distance group was absolutely crazy and they would completely self destruct on practices to get out ahead. So he had to limit the amount of combined training sessions.

[@mevaninduruwa7698]

is this in a yards or meter pool?

[@fletcherbautz4791]

Yardd

[@Den-fr8xy]

Katie 💙

[@jayneartwickis]

Wow!!!

[@RunForPeace-hk1cu]

Ledecky is a beast!!!!

[@franklin1867]

What type of goggles is finke wearing

[@AyAy008]

They look like Tyr Tracer-X.

[@RiverS2091]

Was this in scm or scy?

[@Chickenandeggs_]

Yards probably

[@andrewthomas8737]

Dream best average match up….. Katie and Grant Hackett

[@markspinozzi2882]

Now have someone do this with fly😰😰☠️☠️

[@scottstan90210]

Second

[@henryatgmail]

Third

[@trey_bae3205]

First

[@richardvergara]

Is that Katie Ledecky or Lia Thomas?

[@jeff-ji3kh]

lia would be 2 or 3 bodylengths behind katie

[@LJ_nowandalways]

Is that a joke? You must live in a RV.

[@floridagators4life]

Are you for real

[@RunForPeace-hk1cu]

Richard viagra, is that you bruh? 😂😂😂