Katie Ledecky opens US world championships trials with dominant 800m free win
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Katie Ledecky competes in the 800m freestyle final at the World Championships trials.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
LOS ANGELES – Katie Ledecky opened the USA Swimming’s World Championships trials on Tuesday with a blistering 800m freestyle triumph, clocking 8min 7.07sec in her fastest time since setting two world records in 2016.
She won the Rio Olympics in a world record 8:04.79 and this was the third-fastest time ever in an event she has dominated since winning it on her Games debut in 2012. She owns the top-29 fastest times in the 800m free.
Ledecky, 26, became the sixth American to qualify for a sixth long course World Championships team, joining an elite group of Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, Ryan Lochte, Elizabeth Beisel and Nathan Adrian.
“I’ve been so eager just to get the meet started, just watching all the fast swimming today. I was happy with that time,” said Ledecky, who has won the 800m free at three straight Olympics and five straight world championships.
She will look to add to her World Championship medal haul in Fukuoka, Japan, from July 23. Her current tally of 19 gold medals is second only to Phelps, who has 26.
Jillian Cox cut 10 seconds off her personal best to finish second in 8:20.28 and punch her ticket to July’s showpiece.
Jack Alexy won the men’s 100m free, leading from start to finish, edging a tightly bunched field in 47.93sec. Collegiate standout Chris Guiliano was a surprise second in 47.98.
Caeleb Dressel, 26, whose five Tokyo Olympics golds included the 100m free, finished 29th overall in the preliminaries – last in his heat. A seven-gold Olympic champion with 14 world titles, he skipped the 2022 World Championships in Budapest citing medical reasons and had not returned to competition until a low-key meet in Atlanta in May.
He is entered in three more events this week, the 50m free and the 50m and 100m butterfly.
His coach Anthony Nesty said Dressel needed the break and added: “All you can do is support your athlete. He has a good group of people that care about him and support him. Obviously, I’m happy he’s back in the sport. That’s where he belongs.”
Kate Douglass won the women’s 100m free, surging home for a victory in 52.57sec. Abbey Weitzeil, unable to match her 52.92 of the morning, clocked 53.11 to grab second place. Regan Smith won the women’s 200m fly in 2:05.79 ahead of training mate Lindsay Looney (2:07.35).
Smith took Olympic silver in the event in Tokyo and since a fourth-placed finish at the 2022 World Championships, she has moved to Arizona to train under Phelps’ former coach Bob Bowman with her sights set on Paris 2024.
Carson Foster won the men’s 200m fly in 1:54.32. Thomas Heilman, 16, grabbed second in 1:54.54 – breaking a national age group record set by Phelps. AFP, REUTERS
