Mary-Sophie Harvey Holds Off Tight 400 IM Field at Mesa Pro Series
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Women’s 400 Individual Medley
It was a battle for first in the women’s 400 individual medley (IM) with multiple swimmers exchanging the lead throughout.
The race began with Ella Eastin of Stanford grabbing an early lead with the fly leg, before Stanford teammate Katie Ledecky edged ahead in the back. Ledecky fought to maintain her lead, but Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey was hungry for it and pulled away for a strong lead going in to the free.
Ledecky fought back and succeeded in closing the gap, swimming stroke-for-stroke with Harvey into the finish. At the touch it was Harvey who found victory with a 4:38.05. Ledecky settled for second with a 4:38.16, moving the two of them to eighth and ninth, respectively, in the world rankings.
Madisyn Cox turned in a third place finish of 4:40.37, just ahead of Olympian Melanie Margalis’ 4:40.47.
Eastin slipped to fifth with a final time of 4:41.19, followed by Haley Anderson’s 4:49.54.
Brooke Forde and Vien Nguyen rounded out the top eight with times of 4:50.00 and 4:50.90 respectively.