Taylor Ruck wins 200 at Pan Pacific, Katie Ledecky gets 3rd

TOKYO — Taylor Ruck almost psyched herself out before the race even started.

Knowing she was swimming against five-time Olympic champion Katie Ledecky in the 200-meter freestyle Thursday at the Pan Pacific Championships, the Canadian had to calm herself down as she readied to dive into the pool.

“It’s the name, I guess, because she is the fastest woman on the planet in a lot of races,” Ruck said of Ledecky, the former Stanford swimmer. “My coach kind of saw that, so he told me to focus on my lane and my race.”

And there’s another factor: Almost everyone is already thinking about the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and using this event as a trial run.