Katie Ledecky wins again at U.S. swimming nationals

Katie Ledecky wins again at U.S. swimming nationals

INDIANAPOLIS — Stanford’s Katie Ledecky won for the second time in two nights, taking the 200-meter freestyle at the U.S. National Championships in a time of 1 minute, 54.84 seconds, nearly two seconds ahead of Rio Olympics teammate Leah Smith on Wednesday.

The runners-up are likely to be chosen but must wait for the selection process to be completed before finding out their fate.

Three-time gold medalist Ryan Murphy won in 1:54.30 and Jacob Pebley was next in 1:54.78, more than two seconds ahead of the third-place finisher.

The brash Olympic gold medalist set up a potential world championship rematch with Yulia Efimova by winning the 200 breaststroke in 2:21.83, a personal best and the second-fastest race in the world this year — behind, Efimova, who finished in 2:19.83 two weeks ago.

[...] Indiana University’s star swimmer backed up her bold talk by claiming gold in the 100 breast and forcing Efimova to settle for silver.