Ledecky adds to golden aura
INDIANAPOLIS — Stanford’s Katie Ledecky won for the second time in two nights, taking the 200-meter freestyle at the U.S. National Championships in a time of 1 minute, 54.84 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of Rio Olympics teammate Leah Smith on Wednesday.
And Ledecky isn’t even at her best.
Winners of each event at the U.S. nationals qualify for the world team. The runners-up are likely to be chosen but must wait for the selection process to be completed before finding out their fate. Ledecky won the 800 free Tuesday, a win that also means she’s qualified in the 1,500.
Ledecky acknowledged Tuesday that she hasn’t tapered for this meet and said Wednesday she felt sluggish in the morning warm-ups. For America’s best woman swimmer, it didn’t matter.
“I was really happy with that (time), it felt good,” said Ledecky, who won’t race Thursday.
Cal swimmers took first and second in the men’s 200 backstroke. Three-time gold medalist Ryan Murphy won in 1:54.30 and Jacob Pebley was next in 1:54.78, more than two seconds ahead of the thirdplace finisher.
Murphy and Pebley led from the start, touching 1-2 at each turn.
The times are the third- and fourth-fastest in the world this year.
Another Olympian living up to her hype was Lilly King. The brash Olympic gold medalist set up a potential world championship rematch with Yulia Efimova by winning the 200 breaststroke in 2:21.83, a personal best and the secondfastest race in the world this year — behind, Efimova, who finished in 2:19.83 two weeks ago.
“I love racing, I’m just focused on me right now,” King said when asked about facing Efimova again. “I love racing fast people. I love racing.”
During last summer’s Olympics, King turned heads by calling Efimova a drug cheat. Efimova had been banned twice previously for doping.
But Indiana University’s star swimmer backed up her bold talk by claiming gold in the 100 breast and forcing Efimova to settle for silver. The anticipated rematch in the 200 breast didn’t materialize because King didn’t qualify for the finals.
The two haven’t squared off in a pool since, but King has refused to back down from her previous comments while being repeatedly questioned about it. It’s also clear King isn’t content with just getting one more shot to beat Efimova at the world championships in Budapest, Hungary, next month.
She also wants to avenge her 12th-place Olympic finish in the 200.
“It’s embarrassing not being able to represent your country in the final, especially when you’re an American,” she said.