American swimmer Katie Ledecky set a world record in the 1,500-meter freestyle on Saturday night in what was, incredibly, her first competitive event of the season at this week's FINA Swimming World Cup. 

The 10-time Olympic medalist, who won her first gold medal as a 15-year-old in her international debut at the 2012 London Olympic Games, finished in 15:08.24, nearly 10 seconds off the previous record set by Germany's Sarah Wellbrock (15:18.01) in 2019. 

'I knew that record was within reach just based on some things I've done in training, especially my distance stuff (as it) has felt really good this fall,' Ledecky said from Toronto's Pan Am Sports Centre. 'So I felt locked into the pace.'

The former Stanford swimmer was in a league of her own from the start, obliterating her opponents, as she finished 40 seconds ahead of second place Beatriz Dizotti, of Brazil.

After touching the wall and taking off her cap and goggles, she seemed to have been in agony, but that didn't stop the crowd from giving her a loud round of applause.

'Honestly most of that emotion was just because it hurt a lot so when something hurts that much you want to see a great result like that,' Ledecky later told FINA's website. 

'World Record. Back to Work. Soon Indy,' the most decorated female swimmer in history (18 world championship gold medals) later tweeted.

Ledecky swam at such a fast pace that she almost broke the 800m world record, halfway into the race, with a split time of 8:00.58, just a second short from the 7:59.00 mark. 

Shattering the record for the 1500m freestyle event also set a new precedent for the 25-year-old D.C. native, as she had never set a new precedent in a 25meter pool. All of her previous achievements came in a 50meter pool, the standard Olympic size. 

'I didn't have it as a set goal (to break the world record),' Ledecky admitted after her breathtaking performance, according to FINA.

'I really didn't know what to expect coming out of this meet, being my first meet of the season, taking most of August off, getting back into training rhythm, didn't have any type of super preparation for this meet, just wanted to come in and race international swimmers being a meet in North American soil.'

Laila Oravsky, of Canada, finished third on the podium, completing Saturday's race with a time of 16:16.86, more than a minute after Ledecky. The 2022 FINA Swimming World Cup third and final leg will be held in Indianapolis on Thursday for a three-day action-packed 25m swimming event until Saturday November 5th.