Ledecky dominates in 200m free win

LOS ANGELES: Katie Ledecky bagged her third victory in three days at the Pro Swim Series meet in Indianapolis on Friday with a dominant performance in the 200m freestyle.

Ledecky, the five-time Olympic gold medalist who opened her first meet as a professional with a 1,500m free world record on Wednesday, clocked 1min 55.42sec to beat double Olympic champion Simone Manuel by 2.64sec.

Ledecky had opened her evening an hour earlier with a third-place finish in the 400m individual medley won by Melanie Margalis in 4:36.81.

“I’m pretty happy with it coming off the 400m IM,” Ledecky said.

Manuel had won the 50m free shortly before a fierce 200m free final that saw all eight women break two minutes.

Canadian Olympian Taylor Ruck, third in the 50 free, returned shortly thereafter to win the 200m backstroke.

Ruck, who won a record-equalling eight medals at the Commonwealth Games last month, won in 2:08.11, with Asia Seidt second in 2:10.00.