Katie Ledecky made it 2-for-2 at the U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials in Indianapolis on Monday, edging Claire Weinstein by less than a second to win the women’s 200-meter freestyle.
Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist who will compete in her fourth Olympics in Paris in July and August, won the 400 freestyle on Saturday. On Monday, she pulled away over the last 50 meters to touch the wall in 1:55.2 — 0.96 seconds quicker than Weinstein.
Ledecky was far from the only Olympic veteran to take home gold in Indianapolis.
Lilly King, who won gold at the women’s 100 breaststroke at the 2016 Rio Olympics then bronze in the same event at Tokyo in 2021, posted a time of 1:05.43 to win the event Monday by 0.67 seconds over runner-up Emma Weber. King currently holds the world record with 1:04.13. Lydia Jacoby, who won gold in the 100 breaststroke in Tokyo, finished third in Indianapolis and did not earn an automatic berth for Paris.
Katie Grimes, who wound up fourth in the women’s 800 freestyle in Tokyo, qualified for Paris in the 400 individual medley on Monday. Her winning time of 4:35.00 was 0.56 seconds better than Emma Weyant’s mark. Grimes has also qualified for the open water 10-kilomter event at Paris.
On the men’s side, Ryan Murphy is making his third trip to the Olympics after winning 100 backstroke by half a second over Hunter Armstrong. In swimming a 52.22, the American recordholder will try for his third Olympic medal in the event. He took gold at Rio and bronze at Tokyo.
First-place finishes weren’t restricted to Olympic veterans in Indianapolis. Luke Hobson, who turns 21 next week, won the men’s 200 freestyle with a time of 1:44.89, with Chris Guiliano close behind at 1:45.38.
The trials run through Sunday. For each event other than the 100 and 200 freestyles, the winner locks in a spot in the Olympics and the runner-up most likely earns a spot once the entire Team USA is filled at the end of the trials. The third- through sixth-place finishers in the 100 and 200 freestyle races can also make Olympic relay teams.
Two more event finals take place on Tuesday:
–Women’s 100 backstroke
–Men’s 800 freestyle
–Field Level Media
