INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana – Five-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Stanford Swimming) bested her own three-year-old world record by 5 seconds in the women’s 1,500-meter freestyle, winning in 15 minutes, 20.48 seconds Wednesday to open the TYR Pro Swim Series at Indianapolis at the Indiana University Natatorium.

Ledecky, who was under her world-record pace throughout most of the race, touched 49 seconds clear of the field and topped her previous world record of 15:25.48 set at the 2015 FINA World Championships. She now owns the eight fastest times in history in the event dating to 2013 and has 14 career world-record swims.

“I knew I was going to have a good swim. I’ve just been training really, really well, doing some things that I haven’t done before … My confidence level is just really high right now and I didn’t know if the good training that I’ve put in these past six weeks was going to translate immediately here or if it was going to be down the road,” said Ledecky, who was competing in her first race as a professional. “I got into the race and felt good and just tried to hold steady the whole way.”

Ledecky’s world record was the 15^th all-time posted in Indianapolis and first since 2009.

Erica Sullivan (Las Vegas, Nev./Sandpipers of Nevada) was second behind Ledecky in 16:09.88, followed by Hannah Moore (Cary, N.C./Wolfpack Elite) in 16:15.37.

National Team member and men’s TYR Pro Swim Series leader Zane Grothe (Boulder City, Nev./Mission Viejo Nadadores) won the men’s 1500m freestyle in 15:05.31, followed by Logan Houck (Las Vegas, Nev./Sandpipers of Nevada) in 15:17.42 and PJ Ransford (Pittsford, N.Y./Club Wolverine) in 15:24.69.

The four-day meet continues through Saturday with 10 a.m. EDT prelims followed by nightly finals at 7 p.m. EDT. Single- and all-session tickets are on sale now: https://www.usaswimming.org/utility/indianapolis-ticket-information

Coverage of each finals sessions will be available on various NBC Sports platforms, including live coverage on NBC Sports Network on Saturday at 7 p.m. EDT. Thursday’s finals will be streamed live online and via the NBC Sports app, while Friday’s finals will air live on the Olympic Channel at 7 p.m. EDT. Friday’s finals session also will re-air Sunday on NBC Sports Network at 7 p.m. EDT. A live webcast of daily prelims is available at usaswimming.org.