{"id":531137,"date":"2023-06-30T07:44:26","date_gmt":"2023-06-30T14:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=531137"},"modified":"2023-06-30T07:44:26","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T14:44:26","slug":"u-s-nationals-katie-ledecky-leads-stacked-final-in-400-free","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/u-s-nationals-katie-ledecky-leads-stacked-final-in-400-free\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Nationals: Katie Ledecky Leads Stacked Final in 400 Free"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. Nationals: Katie Ledecky Leads Stacked Final in 400 Free<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

After Claire Weinstein<\/strong> out-touched Katie Ledecky<\/strong> in the 200 freestyle, the next showdown was in the 400 freestyle.<\/p>\n

Ledecky and Weinstein were side-by-side lanes in the final of seven prelims heats. The event was loaded with Olympians Paige Madden, Emma Weyant, Katie Grimes, Leah Smith<\/strong> and Bella Sims<\/strong> as well as NCAA champion Kensey McMahon<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the final heat, Ledecky was out fast and was a body length ahead at the halfway point. She ran away with the heat and the top seed in 4:01.88.<\/p>\n

Weinsten, Erin Gemmell<\/strong>, McMahon and Madden finished strong and were all pretty close.<\/p>\n

In the sixth heat, Smith went a 4:07.31 with a strong and balanced race to hold off Bella Sims at 4:07.96. Cavan Gormsen<\/strong> was third in the heat in 3:09.14, followed by a hard-charging Katie Grimes<\/strong> (4:10.25), who was eighth halfway through the race and turned it on in the final 100.<\/p>\n

Jillian Cox<\/strong> and Grimes were just out of the U.S. Nationals final as 4:09.72 was the eighth seed to reach finals.<\/p>\n

Weintstein took the second seed in 4:06.79, followed by Smith (4:07.31), Sims (4:07.96), Gemmell (4:07.96), Gormsen (4:09.14), McMahon (4:09.30) and Madden (4:09.72).<\/p>\n

It is also the final event in the career of Sierra Schmidt<\/strong>, who announced her impending retirement this week at U.S. Nationals <\/a>She did one of her famous dance routines before the race, then took a graceful bow after finishing sixth her heat, the final race of her stellar career.<\/p>\n