Bethesda's Katie Ledecky Named AP Female Athlete Of The Year

BETHESDA, MD — The Associated Press named a 20-year-old Bethesda swimmer its Female Athlete of the Year Tuesday, calling Katie Ledecky the "world's best swimmer in the post-Michael Phelps era."

Ledecky took home five golds and a silver at this year's world championships in Budapest. Her impressive run in Hungary solidified her spot as the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year.

Editors and news directors voted on the winner, giving Ledecky 351 points and second-place Serena Williams 343 points.

“I really pride myself on the consistency I’ve had over the past couple years," Ledecky told AP. "Just being able to compete at the international level and come away with some gold medals each year.”

Ledecky, a sophomore at Stanford, is the eighth female swimmer to win the AP award.

“It’s a really great history of women swimmers and freestylers,” Ledecky said of the previous winners. “I really look up to a lot of those women.”

Her impressive wins in Budapest followed her four golds and a silver at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She is also the world-record holder in the women's 400-, 800- and 1500-meter freestyle.

Ledecky was born in Washington, D.C. and graduated from the private school Stone Ridge of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda. She trained with longtime coach Bruce Gemmell in Bethesda and still trains with him when she returns to the area to visit family, according to the AP article.

Earlier this year, she was named the Female Olympic Athlete of the Year by the U.S. Olympic Committee and she was given the Women's Sports Foundation's coveted 2017 Sportswoman of the Year award.

Ledecky will head to Colorado Springs for high-altitude training with the Stanford team this week. She's focused on the collegiate season through the NCAAs in March, and already preparing for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Image Courtesy of Women's Sports Foundation