INDIANAPOLIS � Katie Ledecky easily won the 1,500-meter freestyle at the U.S. national championships on Saturday in Indianapolis, giving her at least three more chances to add to her world championship gold medal collection.
The 26-year-old Ledecky posted the sixth-fastest time in history, finishing in 15 minutes, 29.64 seconds � more than 28 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Katie Grimes. Ledecky qualified for the Americans in all four events she competed in this week, but announced she would not compete in the 200 free later this month in Fukuoka, Japan.
Katie Ledecky will have at least three more chances to add to her women's record total of 19 world championship gold medals after qualifying in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the U.S. national championships. The seven-time Olympic gold medalist qualified for this month's meet in all four events she swam this week in Indianapolis. Read moreLedecky qualifies for 4th world championship event then pulls out of 200-meter freestyle
Two years after winning five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, Caeleb Dressel has failed to qualify for the swimming world championships. Dressel’s final attempt to make the U.S. team ended at the national championships when he tied for 22nd in the preliminaries for the 50-meter freestyle. Dressel clocked a time of 22.72 seconds in the frantic sprint from one end of the pool to the other, leaving him 1.07 behind top qualifier Ryan Held. Read moreCaeleb Dressel fails to qualify for swimming worlds after 22nd place in 50 freestyle
A lifeguard watches as a swimmer competing at the U.S. national championships swimming meet in Indianapolis swims during Wednesday's training session. Read morePaul Newberry Lifeguards Swimming
You've probably seen the meme of the bored-looking lifeguard sitting next to a pool. It says, "If you ever feel useless just remember that someone is a lifeguard at the Olympics swimming event." Funny stuff, but hardly a joking matter. Lifeguards are stationed around the pool at every major swimming competition. That includes this week's U.S. national championships in Indianapolis, which feature Olympic champions such as Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel. Everyone competing at the IU Natatorium is sure glad to have 'em. They point out that anything can happen, even to the world's best swimmers. Read moreColumn: A salute to lifeguards, who are even needed at the Olympic pool
Katie Ledecky will concede that a few things have changed over her long career at the top of swimming. Like those nagging aches and pains. Not that anyone else can tell. At 26, Ledecky already has sealed her legacy as one of the greatest freestyle swimmers the sport has ever witnessed yet she shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, she seems to be getting better. Ledecky started off the U.S. national championships with a dazzling performance in the 800-meter freestyle. She turned in her fastest time since setting the world record at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Read moreKatie Ledecky keeps on rolling more than a decade after her 1st Olympic gold
Caeleb Dressel made it to the 50-meter butterfly final but again failed to qualify for the world championships, finishing third at the U.S. nationals. Dressel touched the wall in 23.35 seconds in the non-Olympic event, which he won at the last two worlds in 2019 and 2022. Read moreCaeleb Dressel fails to qualify for worlds in 50-meter butterfly
Katie Ledecky reacts after winning the women's 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. national championships swimming meet Tuesday in Indianapolis. Read moreNationals Ledecky Rolls On Swimming
Caeleb Dressel qualified for the "A" final of the 50-meter butterfly Wednesday at the U.S. national championships in Indianapolis. Read moreUS Nationals Dressel Swimming
Simone Biles is back. The gymnastics superstar plans to return to competition at the U.S. Classic outside Chicago in early August. The meet will be Biles' first since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Biles made headlines at the 2020 Games when she removed herself from several events to focus on her mental health. She returned on the last day of the meet to earn bronze on balance beam, her seventh career Olympic medal. Biles will be joined at the U.S. Classic by 2020 Olympic champion Sunisa Lee. Read moreSimone Biles returning to competition in August
Ukraine high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh, speaks during Wednesday's press conference ahead of the World Athletics Diamond League Athletissima athletics meeting, in Lausanne, Switzerland. Read moreSwitzerland Athletics Diamond League
Ukraine high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh speaks during Wednesday's press conference ahead of the World Athletics Diamond League Athletissima athletics meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland. Read moreSwitzerland Athletics Diamond League
Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh has said since the start of the war that all Russian and Belarusian athletes should be excluded from the 2024 Paris Olympics. Mahuchikh does not understand why opinions have now changed at the International Olympic Committee. The Olympic bronze medalist says IOC president Thomas Bach supported excluding Russians last year. Mahuchikh says the situation in Ukraine has not changed. The 21-year-old Dnipro native says Ukrainians "will do everything possible that the Russians and Belarusians are not allowed to go" to next year's Paris Games. Read moreUkrainian high jumper Mahuchikh insists on Russian Olympic ban
U.S. gymnast Simone Biles, shown in this Aug. 3, 2021, file photo, will be part of the field at the U.S. Classic outside of Chicago on Aug. 5. Read moreBiles Returns Gymnastics
Katie Ledecky has joined an elite club, earning her sixth trip to the world championships with a dominating victory in the 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. nationals. Ledecky was under her own world-record pace for much of the race before settling for the victory in 8 minutes, 7.07 seconds � her third-fastest time ever in the grueling event. Ledecky became only the sixth swimmer to make the world championships for the sixth time, joining Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Natalie Coughlin, Elizabeth Beisel and Nathan Adrian. Read moreLedecky joins an elite club, dominates at US nationals
Katie Ledecky reacts after winning the women's 800-meter freestyle Tuesday at the U.S. national championships swimming meet in Indianapolis. Read moreUS Nationals Swimming
Caeleb Dressel has finished 29th in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. nationals to fall far short of qualifying for the world championships in an event he won at the Tokyo Olympics. Dressel fell farther and farther behind in the last of eight heats, touching the wall behind everyone else. His time of 49.42 seconds was a whopping 1.79 behind top qualifier Ryan Held. It was a sobering reminder of how far Dressel has to go after walking away from swimming last summer during the world championships in Budapest, Hungary. Dressel was nearly 2.5 seconds off his gold medal-winning performance in Tokyo. Read moreDressel struggles to 29th in 100 freestyle at US swimming nationals
Caeleb Dressel, shown in this Aug. 1, 2021, file photo at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, finished 29th in the 100-meter freestyle at the U.S. nationals on Tuesday. Read moreTokyo Olympics Swimming
Aaron D'Souza is sure if he builds it they will come. Not ghostly baseball players but athletes of another sort. Those who compete with an edge. The Australia-born, London-based businessman is president of the Enhanced Games, a sort of Olympics without drug testing which he says "will obliterate all the world records" by "unlocking human potential." The Enhanced Games has its own website, featuring a video that purports to show the "fastest man in the world." Read moreAustralian man plans Enhanced Games for doping athletes
The Olympic flame for the 2024 Paris Games will pass through 64 departments and 400 towns over 68 days before the cauldron is lit. Organizers announced the route for the torch relay at a Paris university. Organizing committee president Tony Estanguet says "the torch relay plays an important role because it has the capacity to touch so many people." The torch will be lit by the sun's rays on April 16 in Ancient Olympia before reaching the French seaport of Marseille by boat on May 8. A total of 10,000 people will participate in the torch relay. Read moreParis Olympic flame to be carried 68 days before the cauldron is lit
