The third leg of the TYR Pro Swim Series this week offers another opportunity for Katie Ledecky domination.
The five-time Olympic gold medalist is slated to swim on all four days of competition in Richmond, Virginia, starting with the 800m free on Wednesday. She will not swim the 1500 free on Saturday, an event in which she owns the world record and nine of the 10 fastest times ever recorded, but is currently expected to compete in all of the other freestyle events (including the 50 free, which she rarely swims).
Ledecky has had an eventful year - she announced her decision to turn pro in March 2018, forgoing her final two years of eligibility at Stanford. She then broke her own world record in the 1500 free by exactly five seconds in her first event as a pro swimmer at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Indianapolis last May. Ledecky, who still studies and trains at Stanford, competed earlier this season at the TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville, Tennessee, winning four events (400 IM, 200 free, 400 free and 1500 free).
The field in Richmond will include several other Olympic gold medalists, including Simone Manuel, Caeleb Dressel and Ryan Murphy. The field will also include 19-year-old Michael Andrew, a breakout star last season who won five events at the most recent TYR Pro Swim Series event in Des Moines. Swimmers continue to train for July’s World Championships in South Korea, so they aren’t likely to post their best times at this point in the season.
Coverage of the series will air live on Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA at 6 p.m. both Friday and Saturday, with encore presentations on NBCSN both days.
