Ledecky cruises to 800m free win

LOS ANGELES: Five-time Olympic swimming champion Katie Ledecky capped her first meet as a professional with a dominant victory in the 800m freestyle at the Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis.

Ledecky, who opened the meet with a world record in the 1,500m free on Wednesday, was never challenged en route to a victory in 8min 07.27sec.

Erica Sullivan, 17, was a distant second in a personal best of 8:30.15.

“I couldn’t be happier with how this meet went,” said Ledecky, the 21-year-old who won at 800m at the 2012 Olympics and followed that up with four golds and a silver at Rio in 2016.

She finished the four-day meet with wins in the 1,500m, 800m, 400m and 200m freestyles and a third place in the 400m individual medley.

Ledecky, who turned professional after the NCAA collegiate championships in March, then sounded a warning to her rivals in a 2018 season highlighted by the PanPacific Championships at Tokyo in August.

“I think the times are a little deceiving,” she said. “We’re in pretty hard training right now, so to be going these times is a great feeling and gives me a lot of confidence moving forward for the rest of the summer. “I think I’m in the best spot I can be at this point in the season.”