Katie Ledecky Leads Katinka Hosszu in 200 Free Prelims at 2015 FINA World Championships

Photo Courtesy: Delly Carr

Coverage of the 2015 FINA World Championships is sponsored by Wylas Timing. Visit our coverage page for more.

One of the most stacked fields of the entire 2015 FINA World Championships was assembled with USA’s Katie Ledecky leading the way in the women’s 200-meter free.

Ledecky, who actually cruised her way to a world record in the women’s 1500-meter free yesterday during prelims, paced qualifying with a time of 1:55.82. That moved Ledecky up to fifth in the world rankings.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu put up the second seed of the morning with a time of 1:56.32. She’s been faster with a 1:55.89 from earlier this season.

This event could be the final straw in the likely battle between Ledecky and Hosszu for Swimming World’s World Swimmer of the Year.  Assuming the two swimmers take care of business in their other events, this is the only head-to-head swim.

Ledecky, however, is going to have to measure herself during finals tonight.  She had the women’s 1500-meter freestyle finale, then comes right back after the men’s 100-meter back finals for the women’s 200-meter free semis.

Plenty of other top swimmers will have something to say about Ledecky and Hosszu in semis.  USA’s Missy Franklin raced her way to the third seed in 1:56.42 with China’s Shen Duo posting a fourth-seeded 1:56.75.

Russia’s Veronika Popova (1:57.18), Italy’s Federica Pellegrini (1:57.34), Australia’s Emma McKeon (1:57.78) and France’s Charlotte Bonnet (1:57.99) closed out the top eight.

The Netherlands’ Femke Heemskerk (1:58.10), Sweden’s Michelle Coleman (1:58.11), Great Britain’s Siobhan Marie O’Connor (1:58.27), China’s Guo Junjun (1:58.27), Russia’s Viktoria Andreeva (1:58.31), Japan’s Chihiro Igarashi (1:58.31), Bulgaria’s Nina Rangelova (1:58.41) and Brazil’s Manuella Lyrio (1:58.68) also will compete in the semis.

SCHEDULED EVENTS

  • Men’s 50 breast
  • Women’s 200 free
  • Men’s 200 fly
  • Men’s 800 free
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Attakus Benjamin
8 years ago

Hold on, Katinka is a smart girl !

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