"Everyone has a different personality" - Katie Ledecky details what it is like to be in the ready room before a race
Katie Ledecky has continued her dominance in the international and national championships for the past decade. And still she continues to what she does best in the swimming arena. In a recent video posted on YouTube, the American swimmer has spoken about what it's like to be in the ready room before a race.
The USA Swimming's YouTube channel posted a video of couple of swimmers sharing their experiences during 2022 Toyota U.S. Open Swimming Championships. The video is episode two of "Off The Blocks Season Four". Swimmers such as Katie Ledecky and Leah Hayes can be seen sharing their views in the video.
Speaking of ready room before a race in the video, Katie Ledecky claimed that there would be differents ways in which the swimmers would be getting ready before the race in a ready room. She said:
"There's typically a ready room that we have to report to about 20 minutes before our race. So I usually have my cap and googles already on and I try to just continue to go through in my mind how I want to feel in the race. I think everyone has a different personality."
She added:
"Some people love to chat some people like to keep to themselves and be quiet. Some people have the headphones on, it's always interesting to see what people do."
In a video posted by Team USA in 2016, Katie Ledecky had claimed that she doesn't have superstition before the race but she stated that she would clap her hand three times on the blocks and starts focusing on the race plan.
Katie Ledecky claims she's nervous before the race
Katie Ledecky has achieved so many great things in swimming which are very difficult to replicate for any swimmer. The greatest swimmers of all time has revealed she gets nervous before her race. She said:
"I still get nervous before races. I get that excitement that probably somebody coming to this meet for the first time would feel if you truly care about the sport. You're going to have those nerves that excitement and so some people have more experience than others."
She added:
"But at the end of the day it's swimming there are eight people in each race, the pool is the same length that we train in. You know anyone who qualifies for each level of meet, they deserve to be there because they belong at that level."
While Katie Ledecky's above interactions were during the 2022 Toyota U.S. Open Swimming Championships, she had a successful championships as well. At the 2022 U.S. Open Championships, the American swimmer emerged victorious in four events.
She won the 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 800m freestyle and 1500m freestyle. In particular, Katie won the 400m freestyle event with a championship record time of 3:59.71. The 2023 U.S. Open Championships will be held from November 29 to December 2.