Ledecky heading to 4th Olympics, wins 400 freestyle at U.S. trials

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Katie Ledecky is heading to her fourth Olympics, cruising to victory in the 400-meter freestyle at the U.S. swimming trials on Saturday night.

Cheered on by a crowd of 20,689 at the home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, Ledecky touched the wall in 3 minutes, 58.35 seconds.

She improved on her time of 3:59.99 in the morning preliminaries and set herself up to make a run at another gold against a loaded field at the Paris Games. Australia's Ariarne Titmus is the defending Olympic champion and world-record holder (3:55.38), with Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh also in the mix.

The 27-year-old Ledecky is set to swim four events at the trials, all of them freestyle events ranging from 200 to 1,500 meters. She already has six individual gold medals — more than any female swimmer in Olympic history.

The expected second spot on the Olympic team will go to Paige Madden, the runner-up behind Ledecky at 4:02.08.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics