Ledecky wins race as U.S. swimmers return

Katie Ledecky and the U.S. are working toward making a big splash at this summer’s delayed Tokyo Games.

Ledecky returned to national competition Wednesday for the first time in a year, winning the 1,500meter freestyle at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in San Antonio. She led by a halfpool length for most of the 30lap race before touching in 15 minutes, 42.92 seconds. Ashley Twichell finished well back in second at 16:04.29.

“I didn’t set too many expectations coming into this first race,” said Ledecky, who graduated from Stanford in December and uses the campus as her training base. “I knew getting the first race out of the way would kind of be a milestone in this journey back into real racing.”

Jordan Wilimovsky won the men’s 1,500 in 15:15.28. He already has qualified for Tokyo in openwater competition.

Ledecky is among several big names diving back in with three months to go until the U.S. Olympic trials. Fellow Cardinal alums Simone Manuel and double backstroke worldrecord holder Regan Smith, as well as Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Lochte, will swim over four days in the first singlesite American meet since the pandemic began.

Ledecky is entered in her other usual events: 200, 400, and 800 freestyles. She’s also set to swim the 50 and 100 free. The 1,500 is a new women’s event in Tokyo.

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