U.S. Nationals: Katie Ledecky Rockets Home to Top 200 Free Prelims; Weinstein, Gemmell Hit 1:56s
After recording her fastest 800 freestyle in six years Tuesday evening, Katie Ledecky continued to look strong in the pool as she returned for the 200 free prelims Wednesday morning. Racing in the final heat between Bella Sims and Leah Smith, two other swimmers who joined her on the Americans’ world-title-winning 800 free relay last year, Ledecky pulled ahead on the second lap and extended the lead with a sub-30-second split, and she ended up winning the heat by more than one-and-a-half seconds.
Ledecky touched in 1:55.49, about a half-second off her season-best mark of 1:54.96 from the TYR Pro Swim Series in Fort Lauderdale in March. Only four other women have broken 1:55 this year: Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan, Canada’s Summer McIntosh, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey. It remains to be seen if Ledecky wants to swim the individual 200 free at the World Championships and challenge that quartet for medals, but she will be the big favorite in the individual final.
The next three finishers were a trio of teenagers who look like potential difference-makers for the Americans’ 800 free relay. Claire Weinstein, who was ninth in the 200 free at Worlds last year after finishing second to Ledecky at Trials, qualified second in 1:56.27, knocking more than four tenths off her previous best of 1:56.71. One hundredth behind Weinstein was Erin Gemmell in 1:56.28, although Gemmell finished just shy of her best of 1:56.14.
Sims came in at 1:57.07 to book the lane next to her Sandpipers teammate Weinstein in the final. Sims split 1:54.60 anchoring the 800 free relay to gold last year, but her prelims swim was a flat-start best time by a half-second. Just behind Sims in the final heat were Longhorn’s Leah Smith (1:57.17) and Indiana’s Anna Peplowski (1:57.33), and they recorded the fifth and sixth seeds, respectively, for the final.
Carmel Swim Club’s Alex Shackell, a teenager who finished fifth in the 200 fly Tuesday after swimming in second place for much of the race, dropped 3.47 seconds from her seed time to win heat four in 1:57.74, and that was good enough to qualify for the final as the seventh seed. Eighth went to Virginia’s Alex Walsh in 1:58.30, as she finished just ahead of Long Island’s Cavan Gormsen (1:58.34), Sandpipers’ Katie Grimes (1:58.45) and NYAC’s Paige Madden (1:58.50).
In another sign of the speed present at this qualification meet, the top four qualifiers in prelims all beat the 1:57.08 that Weinstein swam to finish second in the final last year. The top six seeds all beat the third-place time in last year’s final, Smith’s 1:57.44.
