U.S. Nationals: Katie Ledecky Tops Erin Gemmell in Women’s 200 Free Prelims; Jake Magahey Edges Kieran Smith in Men’s

Katie Ledecky -- Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

U.S. Nationals: Katie Ledecky Tops Erin Gemmell in Women’s 200 Free Prelims; Jake Magahey Edges Kieran Smith in Men’s

It was no surprise to see Katie Ledecky cruise to the top-qualifying mark in the women’s 200 freestyle. After trailing Indiana’s Anna Peplowski and Wisconsin’s Beata Nelson 50 meters into her heat, Ledecky steadily built into the race and ended up winning the heat by almost three seconds. Her time was 1:56.75, about two seconds off her season-best time of 1:54.66, which ranks her behind only Ariarne Titmus for 2022. Ledecky will take her shot at improving that time in the final after she skipped the event at the recent World Championships.

The second qualifier in prelims was Nation’s Capital’s Erin Gemmell, who swam a time of 1:57.12 to comfortably win her heat and drop three tenths from her best time. Gemmell, the daughter of Ledecky’s longtime coach Bruce Gemmell, just missed the World Championships team with a seventh-place finish in the 200 free at April’s International Team Trials.

Claire Tuggle, now representing Cavalier Aquatics, was the only other swimmer to break 1:59 as she finished in 1:58.74. Also qualifying for the final were Long Island’s Chloe Stepanek (1:59.49), Long Island’s Cavan Gormsen (1:59.56), Commonwealth Swimming’s Natalie Mannion (1:59.72), Peplowski (1:59.87) and Australia’s Gemma Cooney (2:00.14). Among those finishing just outside of the top eight were Stanford’s Lillie Nordmann (2:00.19), Nelson (2:00.26) and Texas’ Kelly Pash (2:00.40).

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A few minutes later in the men’s 200 free, Florida’s Kieran Smith entered in the top seed in the event. Smith built through his prelims race, but a familiar rival one lane over, Jake Magahey of Georgia, went with him. Magahey held off Smith on the last 50 by just two hundredths, touching in 1:46.88 to Smith’s 1:46.90. Magahey clipped his best time by two tenths, while Smith was about two seconds off his top mark of 1:44.74, which ranks him as the third-fastest American in history behind Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

Third overall in the morning went to Texas’ Luke Hobson in 1:47.13, with Sun Devil’s Grant House (1:47.27) and Florida’s Jake Mitchell (1:47.29) just behind. Missouri’s Jack Dahlgren (1:47.69) and Cal’s Patrick Callan (1:47.98) also broke 1:48, while Australia’s Kai Taylor earned the last spot in the final at 1:48.39. Great Britain’s Max Litchfield and Cal’s Gabriel Jett tied for ninth in 1:48.48, while Indiana’s Zach Apple, a member of the 800 free relay squad at the Tokyo Olympics, placed 11th in 1:48.51. Mission Viejo’s Trenton Julian ended up finishing 14th in 1:49.33.

The U.S. men struggled in the 200 freestyle during the previous quadrennium, and the Tokyo 800 free relay became the first U.S. relay squad ever to miss an Olympic podium. But the Americans bounced back in a big way this year as Smith, Carson Foster, Julian and Drew Kibler combined to dominate the event at the World Championships. Now, the American men are showing signs of building depth. Hobson was seventh in the 200 free at International Team Trials to just miss the World Championships team while House broke 1:46 in winning the B-final. Any swimmer who can jump into the 1:46-mid range in the final will become a serious candidate to qualify for a relay in future years, and several men in the field are capable of swimming that fast.

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