BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) Katie Ledecky got started on a very busy week at the world championships with a dominating performance in the preliminaries of the 400-meter freestyle Sunday.
The 20-year-old American set a meet record with a time of 3 minutes, 59.06 seconds, nearly 3 seconds ahead of the next-fastest qualifier, teammate Leah Smith (4:02.00).
Barely breathing hard, Ledecky eclipsed her winning time of 3:59.13 from the world championships in Kazan two years ago. She heads into the evening final as an overwhelming favorite to defend her title, the only bit of drama being whether she can break her world record of 3:56.