Katie Ledecky Belts National Anthem After Breaking Michael Phelps' Record, Becoming Greatest Swimmer In World History

Step aside, Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky is officially the greatest individual swimmer in United States history on the World Championship stage. And she's only 26!

Ledecky's laundry list of accomplishments only continues to grow alongside her dominant career. That was the case again on Saturday.

The standard for Ledecky is at the highest of highs. Her margin of victory is often unbelievable.

Ledecky is competing against her own supremacy at this point. However, there was a mark that she had not been able to cross off of her lengthy list of accomplishments— being the greatest ever.

Not anymore!

The 2023 World Championships took place in Fukuoka, Japan over the last week. Ledecky went out and crushed the competition in the 1,500-meter freestyle on Tuesday.

She led from start to finish and there was no one else in sight when she hit the wall.

Her time of 15:26.27 was her third-fastest swim of all-time, which was also the third-fastest swim in history. Ledecky beat the second-place finisher by 17 (!!) seconds and became the first person ever to win five world titles in two different events.

With the win, Ledecky also tied Phelps for the most individual world gold medals in swimming with 15. Not for long!

Ledecky was back in the pool on Saturday for her favorite event, the 800-meter freestyle. As has become normal, she led the entire way and won the event by 4.44 seconds with a time of 8:08.87.

It was her 16th individual goal medal at the World Championships.

Rowdy Gaines was in awe.

Ledecky's win was monumental for two reasons:

Katie Ledecky is officially the greatest swimmer in World Championship history.

Although Ledecky beat Phelps on the world stage, she still has a ways to go at the Olympics. The latter has the former beat by 16 gold medals on the Olympic stage.

Ledecky, however, needs just three more gold medals to move into second place among all Olympic athletes— behind Phelps, ahead of Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina, U.S. swimmer Mark Spitz, U.S. track and field athlete Carl Lewis and Finnish long-distance runner Paavo Nurmi.

It would be a shock if she did not leave Paris in second place all-time next summer. Ledecky should finish second all-time on the list, without issue. Passing Phelps at the Olympics, though, will be a challenge.