Produced by Coleman Hodges.
Reported by Karl Ortegon.
Ledecky might have been in this A final, but it was all Katinka Hosszu and Caitlin Leverenz. The two were close during the fly, but Hosszu charged on the 2nd 50 of the backstroke. Leverenz, a strong breaststroker, couldn’t pull even with the Iron Lady, who took the win in 4:36.77 with her second-fastest time of the year, also in the top 10 in the world. Coming in at 4:40.29 was Leverenz in her first race in awhile, while 18-year old Vien Nguyen grabbed third (4:42.60). Fourth place was 200 free B final winner Dirado (4:43.72), while Ledecky was 5th in 4:45.41, though she had the fastest 100 free split of the field (1:00.87).
Elizabeth Beisel, still recovering from a groin injury, put on a clinic in the B final, cruising to a big win with a final time of 4:46.75. She dropped over six seconds from prelims. Placing 2nd was rising Canadian youngster Taylor Ruck (4:52.28) with a 4.3 second drop from prelims.
