Katie Ledecky returned to competitive action this past weekend at the Fort Lauderdale Open swimming meet in Florida. The nine-time Olympic gold medalist was dominant in the pool once again, winning three medals across four freestyle events.

Katie Ledecky secured gold medals in the 800m and 1500m free while finishing in second place in the 400m free behind Summer McIntosh.

Just a day after the 2026 Fort Lauderdale Open came to a close, Ledecky shared a few pictures along with a message of gratitude in an Instagram post on Sunday, May 3. The American was appreciative about spending her time in Florida and wrote:

"Fort Lauderdale, thanks for more fun times and sunny race days. And thanks to everyone at Swim Fort Lauderdale for hosting another great meet! Back to work."

During the opening day in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday, April 29, Ledecky began the competition in style by taking the top step of the podium in the 1500m free final. She finished the race in 15:25.62, the fifth fastest time in history after finding herself under the world record pace during the first 500m.

15-year-old Sydney Hardy won the silver with her personal best (16:42.76), while Izzy Riva earned the bronze after swimming the course in 17:15.26.

The next day, Ledecky and McIntosh had an epic race in the 400m free final, with both swimming sub-4:00 during the first 200m. But the Canadian managed to gain nearly half a second over Ledecky in this phase and maintained it until the end, despite her advantage shrinking slightly. Ultimately, McIntosh won the race in 3:58.91, just 0.11 ahead of Ledecky, while Emma Weyant settled for third place in 4:07.03.

In the 200m free final, Ledecky finished outside the podium in fourth place on day three of the swimming meet. McIntosh dominated the race and won the gold medal in 1:54.36.

Katie Ledecky easily conquered the 800m at Fort Lauderdale

Katie Ledecky had a solid end to the fourth and final day of action at the 2026 Fort Lauderdale Open. She won the gold medal in the 800m free final in 8:12.68 in a convincing manner, finishing a whopping 28 seconds ahead of Katie Grimes in second place.

Ledecky swam not that far off her season best time of 8:08.57, which was set during the Pro Swim Series meet in Westmont two months ago. The third place went to Michaela Mattes in 8:40.84, after a late charge which nearly allowed her to swim past Grimes.

With a solid weekend in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the books, Ledecky will be looking forward to continuing her good work in long distances in the freestyle events. But at the same time, she would want to get the better of Summer McIntosh in the 400m and 200m free in the near future.

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Written by

Arjun Sharma

Edited by

Yask Kotak