Ledecky-led US to use worlds as springboard to LA 2028

Nine-time Olympic gold medallist Katie Ledecky leads a US swimming team aiming to shore up its global dominance at the world championships in Singapore with an eye already on the 2098 Los Angeles Games.

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Ledecky is headed to a seventh world championships on a high note, having lowered her longstanding world record in the 800m freestyle in May ~ her first long-course world mark since 2018,

She also posted the second-fastest 1,500m free ever this season and swam the second-best 400m free of her career -- all signalling that she remains a force, 13 years on from her breakthrough Olympic gold in the 800m free in London in 2012.

The world championships begin on Sunday and if Ledecky sweeps her three individual events and is part of a winning 4x200m free relay, she would take her tally of world golds to 25.

That is just one shy of Michael Phelps's overall record of 26 world titles.

The 28-year-old Ledecky said she isn't focusing on that type of comparison, or indeed on comparisons with her younger self.