STANFORD, Calif. - Rising sophomore Katie Ledecky was named a finalist for Sportswoman of the Year by the Women's Sports Foundation on Wednesday.
Fan voting is open now through Aug. 27 and can be accessed by clicking here. The public and the Women's Sports Foundation's Awards Committee select the award winners by a 50-50 vote. The winner will be the athlete who receive the highest combined share of a public vote (50 percent of composite) and the Awards Committee vote (50 percent of the composite).
The award recognizes an individual sport athlete and team sport athlete whose performances over a 12-month time span have been exceptional. Past winners include Venus and Serena Williams, Abby Wambach, Meryl Davis, Simone Biles, Yani Tseng and Candace Parker.
The Bethesda, Maryland native was the first NCAA swimmer in 29 years to capture individual NCAA titles in the 200, 500 and 1650-free, and was a member of Stanford's American record-setting 400 free and 800 free relays. A five-time All-American, Ledecky broke the American and NCAA record in the 500 free, and bested her own NCAA mark in the 1000 free en route to the national title in the 1650 free, an event she won by more than 20 seconds. Ledecky won four conference titles (all in American record time) at the Pac-12 Championships, was named the Pac-12 Championship Swimmer of the Meet, and was the only swimmer twice named Pac-12 Swimmer of the Month in the course of Stanford's undefeated dual meet season.
Most recently, Ledecky claimed three U.S. titles at the Phillips 66 National Championships, and won six medals (five gold) at the FINA World Championships.
In total, over the course of her first season at Stanford, Ledecky set five individual American records and seven individual NCAA records in three different events, and broke Stanford team records in five different individual events. A standout in the classroom as well, Ledecky has now broken 13 World Records and 30 American Records in her swimming career.
