INDIANAPOLIS — Katie Ledecky continues to make winning look easy. Nathan Adrian keeps proving experience matters when things get close.
Either way, the result was the same Tuesday night: The two Olympic gold medalists qualified for another American world championship team.
Ledecky, as usual, dominated the women’s 800-meter freestyle, winning by nearly nine seconds. Adrian, meanwhile, rallied in the closing meters of the men’s 100 free and outtouched Caeleb Dressel by 0.01 seconds for the victory at the U.S. national championships.
“That’s kind of what we’ve built into my nervous system,” Adrian said. “I’ve always tried to go out and bring it back in the back half. Now maybe we can figure out what to do in the front half.”
Adrian doesn’t have much time for fine-tuning before heading to Budapest, Hungary. The world championship meet is scheduled for July 23-30.
But after taking Olympic gold in the 100 free in 2012 and picking up a bronze in the same event last summer in Rio de Janeiro, Adrian returned to Indianapolis this year under completely different circumstances.
At age 28, he was easily the oldest competitor in the final, almost 61/2 years older than the next oldest, Ryan Held.
And with the retired Michael Phelps and suspended Ryan Lochte not around, Adrian has accepted his role as Team USA’s elder statesman.
The good news is that he appears to be as strong as ever.
After qualifying fourth in the morning prelims, Adrian charged back from the No. 6 spot at the turn and sprinted past five younger competitors to reclaim a title he first won in 2009, also in Indianapolis. He won in 47.96 seconds. Dressel was next at 47.97.
“I didn’t know where they were and if I had looked, I probably would have lost it,” Adrian said after pumping his fist and taking a deep breath following the race.
The winners of each event qualify for the world meet. Runner-ups are also likely to join the team through a selection process.
Ledecky, as usual, provided no drama in an event she has owned for years.
The 20-year-old Stanford star took the lead in the first 50 meters and extended it by between 0.31 and 0.83 seconds on each lap through the first 600 meters. At one point, the Washington native was even swimming under her own world-record pace.
She eventually finished in 8:11.50, beating Leah Smith to the wall by 8.96 seconds.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.