Olympic champions and world-record holders Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md.) and Michael Phelps (Baltimore, Md.) claimed top honors as repeat Athlete of the Year winners Sunday at the 2015 USA Swimming Golden Goggle Awards at the JW Marriott Los Angeles L.A. LIVE.
Ledecky was the night’s big winner, claiming three awards – Female Athlete of the Year, Female Race of the Year for the 200-meter freestyle at the 2015 FINA World Championships and Relay Performance of the Year for anchoring the women’s 4x200m free relay to gold at the FINA World Championships – for the second straight year. […]
The 18-year-old Ledecky earned Female Athlete of the Year honors for the third straight year with five gold medals, four of them in individual events, at the FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia. With victories in the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle events, Ledecky became the first swimmer to win gold in all four events at the same FINA World Championships. She also eclipsed her own world records in the 800m and 1500m free.
“I’m very honored to be up here,†Ledecky said. “Everybody brings something special to the team – the coaches, the swimmers, the support staff. Everybody really deserves a lot of credit. I could thank so many people in this room for your support of USA Swimming and the USA Swimming Foundation.â€
Phelps won Male Athlete of the Year honors for the second straight year and the sixth time in his career. He was dominant at the Phillips 66 National Championships in San Antonio, posting world-best times for 2015 in a trio of events – the 100m fly, 200m fly and 200m IM. Equally as impressive was that each swim also cracked the top-eight performances of all-time.
“Thank you for nominating me for this, and I look forward to big things next summer for all of us,†Phelps said.
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