Katie Ledecky inched closer to history Tuesday.

The 26-year-old tied fellow American swimmer Michael Phelps for the most individual gold medals in swimming when she won the 1,500-meter women's freestyle at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

She cruised to her 15th title in true Ledecky fashion: Her time of 15:26.27 was 17 seconds faster than silver medalist Simona Quadarella. That mark is third all-time in the event behind two other Ledecky races — she holds the top 16 times in this event, too.

Ledecky will have a chance to break Phelps' record Saturday in the 800-meter freestyle final.

In total, Ledecky has five world titles in each of the 800 and 1,500 frees, four in the 400 and one in the 200-meter. She also has six individual Olympic gold medals. If you include her relays, Ledecky has 24 world championships medals and 20 gold medals — both of which are records for women but trail Phelps' overall record of 33 medals and 26 goals.