Katie Ledecky Wins 1500m Freestyle on Opening Night of Pan Pacific Championships

Katie Ledecky won the 1500m freestyle on opening night of the Pan Pacific Championships on Wednesday, earning the first international medal of her storied career on home soil.

The two-time Olympic champion in the event was under her own world-record pace in the early stages of the 30-lap race, with fans at the outdoor pool in Irvine, California, on their feet cheering throughout.

Ledecky touched in 15m 36.09s. Lani Pallister of Australia gave chase early before Ledecky opened a body-length lead over her closest pursuer. Pallister took silver in a personal best 15:38.62. Moesha Johnson of Australia earned bronze.

Gretchen Walsh won the 50m butterfly over teammate Kate Douglass to lead four 1-2 finishes by the United States.

Walsh touched in 24.65s, bettering her time of 24.91 from the morning preliminaries. Douglass became the third woman to break the 25s barrier in the event with a prelim time of 24.99. In the final, she finished second at 25.06.

Walsh was already in the sub-25 club, with the American record of 24.51s. The other member is Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden, who holds the world record of 24.43s.

Canada’s Taylor Ruck took bronze in 25.23 in the first Pan Pacs held since 2018.

The once-every-four-years event was canceled in 2022 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This year’s event was moved from Canada to Southern California to give the region a major international meet ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, where swimming will be held at SoFi Stadium in front of nearly 40,000 spectators.

Luca Urlando won the men’s 200 butterfly over U.S. teammate Carson Foster. Urlando finished in 1:53.11, breaking the championship record of 1:53.80 set by Michael Phelps at the 2006 Pan Pacs in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“That was like a dream come true,” Urlando said.

Phelps then presented medals to Urlando, Foster and third-place Harrison Turner of Australia.

American teammates Katharine Berkoff and world record holder Regan Smith finished 1-2 in the women’s 100-meter backstroke. Berkoff won in 57.93 seconds. Smith was second in 58.11, slower than the time of 57.86 she swam in prelims.

Ruck earned her second bronze of the night with a time of 58.40.

US teammates Luke Hobson and Gabriel Jett finished 1-2 in the men’s 200 free.

Hobson touched first in 1:43.85 with a stunned Jett second in a personal-best 1:43.96. Zhang Zhanshuo of China was third.

Pallister won the women’s 200 free in a course-record 1:53.67, beating Canada’s Summer McIntosh, who was second at 1:53.86. Erika Fairweather of New Zealand was third.

Ben Armbruster of Australia won the men’s 50 fly in 22.75 seconds over Van Mathias of the US.

The Pan Pacs limit each nation to just two swimmers in every championship final as a way to ensure greater representation among countries. That means swimmers can’t afford to ease through the morning prelims since a full-on effort could be required to make the evening final.