Decorated swimmer Simone Manuel made her third US Olympic team on Wednesday, touching fourth in the 100-meter freestyle to secure a spot in the relay event in front of a record crowd inside Lucas Oil Stadium.

With her gold medal win at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, Manuel became the first Black woman to win gold in an individual Olympic swimming event. But the former champion in the 100-meter freestyle endured a long road after being diagnosed with overtraining syndrome ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

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"I think Paris is going to be a blast," Manuel said after qualifying. "It's a different spot than I'm used to right now with only being a relay swimmer. But it's my third Olympic team, and that's something that's really hard to accomplish.

"It's a miracle that I'm even able to stand up here and be able to race again. The people close to me know the journey it took to get here. I'm really proud of myself and proud of Team USA."

Kate Douglass and Torri Huske will advance as the two individual swimmers in the event. They'll be joined by Gretchen Walsh and Manuel. 

Elsewhere, Katie Ledecky added to her long list of accolades by winning the 1500-meter freestyle in a time that she wasn’t entirely happy with — despite finishing well ahead of the rest of the heat.

"I was expecting to go a lot faster," she said afterwards. "I know I have a lot more in me than the end result today. I just didn't have that next gear."

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One day prior, Regan Smith reclaimed the World Record in the 100-meter backstroke with a time of record time of 57.33 seconds. Smith had previously set the record in 2019, before Australia’s Kaylee McKeown broke it soon after. The feat marked the second World Record broken at the US Olympic Swimming Trials.

"There were many years that went by after 2019 where I thought that I would never do that ever again," Smith said Tuesday, before adding that she’d love to set a new record in Paris. "I think 56 is a possibility, for sure."

Katie Ledecky is officially on to her fourth-straight Olympics, punching her ticket to Paris in the 400-meter freestyle at Saturday's US Olympic Swimming Trials. 

But Ledecky’s wasn’t the only name in the headlines in Indianapolis. Virginia’s Gretchen Walsh set a World Record in the 100-meter butterfly on Saturday in the semifinal. And roughly 24 hours later, she was also named an Olympian, taking first in the event. 

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"I was definitely nervous," Walsh said. "There were a lot of what-ifs. Coming off breaking the world record, I was thinking, 'Do I need to do that again just to make the team? What if I get third? What's that even even going to look like?'"

She later added that she "couldn’t ask for a better start" to the meet. 

Both Torri Huske and Regan Smith were under the previous American record placing second and third respectively. But Smith, whose time would’ve won her silver at the Tokyo Olympics, won’t swim the event in Paris after placing third. 

And in front of a record crowd, 46-year-old Gabrielle Rose proved that age is just a number. She set a best time in the 100-meter breaststroke en route to advancing to the semifinals of the event. There, she finished in 10th place — and with another best time. 

"I’m just hoping to show people you can do more, you’re capable of doing more," Rose, a two-time Olympian, said. "You can have more energy, you can have more strength than you thought was possible. I want women in particular to not be afraid to be strong, to lift weights, to take care of themselves, and just know that they can have a lot more in the older chapters of their lives."

The US Olympic Swimming Trials begin this weekend, running from June 15th through June 23rd in Indianapolis, with Katie Ledecky eyeing her fourth-straight Summer Games.

While traditionally held in Omaha, Indiana's Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the NFL's Indianapolis Colts, has been fitted with a 50-meter pool to host the meet that will determine the 2024 Paris Olympics roster.

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All eyes will be on seven-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky, who will be competing in the 200-meter, 400-meter, 800-meter, and 1500-meter freestyle — all events in which she’s been an Olympic champion. 

Rival Ariarne Titmus had her trials last week, breaking the world record in the 200-meter freestyle. Ledecky’s 200 is intended to qualify her for the Olympic relay. Meanwhile stateside, Katie Grimes stands to be a challenger in the 1500-meter freestyle has already qualified for the Paris Olympics in the 10km open water event.

Other competitors of note include 47-year-old Gabrielle Rose, who stands to become the oldest US Swimming Olympic qualifier in the 100-meter and 200-meter breaststroke.

Additionally, Kate Douglass — an NCAA and World Champion — is a favorite to make her first Olympic team in the 200-meter IM and 200-meter breaststroke. Simone Manuel, an Olympic champion in the 100-meter freestyle, is also looking to make her third-straight Olympics.

Where to watch: The Trials will be streaming all week on Peacock, with later qualifying heats airing live on USA Network and event finals airing in primetime on NBC.

Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, at a White House ceremony on Friday afternoon. 

The Team USA standout is the most decorated women’s swimmer in the sport’s history. In addition to her seven Olympic golds, she’s also won a total of 21 gold medals at the World Championships, the most of any swimmer regardless of gender. 

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The esteemed award recognizes those who have "made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors," according to a White House press briefing. 

Ledecky is one of 19 medal recipients chosen by the Biden administration this year. She joins a class that spans the worlds of politics, sports, film, human rights, religion, and science. Her fellow 2024 awardees include Everything Everywhere All at Once actress Michelle Yeoh, pioneering Hispanic astronaut Dr. Ellen Ochoa, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, plus posthumous winners Jim Thorpe, the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the US, and assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers. 

"I'm surrounded by so many extraordinary people in so many different fields," Ledecky told Just Women's Sports on Friday. "I feel like I've made a lot of friends today among that group, and their families and their friends."

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and USWNT legend Megan Rapinoe were among 2022’s class of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients. Biles and Rapinoe were the fifth and sixth women athletes to be given the honor, making Ledecky the seventh.

Ledecky said she was surprised to learn how recent it has been that athletes in women's sports have been considered for the honor. Billie Jean King was the first to receive the award in 2009. "That kind of blew my mind that it was that recent," she said.

"There are so many great female athletes that I've looked up to for so many years," she continued. "And I know we're just going to keep pushing ahead, and doing our best to continue to get a seat at every table."

Like Biles, Ledecky receives the Medal of Freedom while she's still actively competing in her sport, a fact not lost on the 27-year-old. "My goals in the pool are to continue to push forward and swim good times, hopefully win some more medals. And then secondly to continue to do good things out of the pool, whether that's inspiring young kids to learn how to swim, get into the sport, set big goals in whatever pursuits they're interested in."

"I've recognized I've had a long career now, and it's important to reflect every now and then. But at the same time, I'm still competing and still working hard into the future."

For the first time in 11 years, Katie Ledecky lost a 400-meter freestyle race in a U.S. pool, with Canadian teenager Summer McIntosh taking the title at the U.S. Open on Thursday.

At just 17 years old, McIntosh is no stranger to the international swimming circuit. She even held the world record in the 400 free for three months – before Australia’s Ariarne Titmus took back the crown.

In July, McIntosh entered the world championship as the record holder but placed fourth in the event, while Titmus took the world title and the world record.

“After that race, I learned a lot about how to get back out after it,” McIntosh said Thursday. “I had so many races after that that I was really happy with. No matter how bad one race is, you really get back up and get back into it.”

At the U.S. Open final, she swam a time of 3:59.42, beating Ledecky by 2.96 seconds.

It’s the first time that Ledecky has lost the event in the United States since placing third at the 2012 Olympic trials at 15 years old.

The 2024 Olympics are looming, and McIntosh’s rise has made what seemed to be a two-person race between Titmus and Ledecky much more intriguing. Last March, McIntosh snapped Ledecky’s nine-year domestic win streak in the 200 free.

Ledecky remains undefeated in the United States in the 800 and 1500 free races, and she has been for 13 years.

Katie Ledecky’s world dominance knows no bounds.

On Saturday, Ledecky cemented her status amongst the swimming’s greatest for good, surpassing Michael Phelps for the most individual world titles with 16. She did so in the 800 freestyle, the same event that introduced her to the world stage at the 2012 Olympics in London when she won gold as a 15-year-old.

“I never dreamt of even coming to meets like this,” Ledecky told reporters in Japan. “To be here and having a bunch of world championships now – it is amazing.”

But even in the midst of history, Ledecky was still Ledecky, showcasing a bit of disappointment that her time wasn’t as fast as U.S. nationals last month (8:07.07) and last year’s world championships in Budapest (8:08.04).

“I wanted to be a little bit better, but I’ll take it,” Ledecky, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, told reporters. “I was probably out a little too fast. It hurt on the back half. But I knew it was my last race. I wanted to leave it in the pool. So I just wanted to trust my back half and see if I could get out [fast] and hold it.”

The Paris Olympics are fast approaching, and for Ledecky, this week provided a “great stepping stone” into the next year of training.

“Having improvement off the blocks in pretty much all my events and feeling like we’re progressing really well in training and in racing,” her coach Anthony Nesty said. “We get back to work in just a couple of weeks.”

Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus broke the women’s 400m freestyle world record — and defeated American rival Katie Ledecky and previous world record-holder Summer McIntosh of Canada — at the 2023 World Swimming Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, on Sunday.

Titmus, the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the event, led from 100 meters and ultimately clocked 3:55.38, cutting seven-hundredths off McIntosh’s world record and touching the wall more than three seconds ahead of Ledecky (3:58.73). New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather claimed bronze, while the 16-year-old McIntosh placed fourth.

Titmus, Ledecky, and McIntosh are the three fastest women to ever swim the 400m free and the event was billed as the ‘Race of the Century’ heading into this week’s world championships.

Ledecky owned the world record in the event from 2014 until last year, when Titmus claimed it for herself at Australian Championships. McIntosh then took it over at Canadian Trials in March.

“It wasn’t something (breaking the record) that I had my mind on for this meet,” Titmus told reporters in Japan. “I just wanted to come here and try and swim the way I know I’m capable of. I knew the only way to win — I believed — was to try to take it out (fast) and whoever had as much fight left at the end was going to win it.”

By taking silver, Ledecky claimed the 23rd world championship medal of her career, extending her mark as the most decorated female swimmer in world championship history.

“I think you could just see the world record coming. It’s been a very fast year of swimming and it was kind of predictable that it would be a really fast field,” Ledecky said. “I can’t really complain. My stroke feels good. I feel good in the water. I think all year my 800 has felt better than my 400, so I’m excited about the rest of my week.”

Katie Ledecky dominated yet again in 2022, but she already has her sights set on the future.

The 25-year-old swimmer won the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award, announced Wednesday. She won all four of her events at the 2022 world championships, for 22 career medals and 19 career golds in that competition.

Ledecky, who also won the AP award in 2017, was selected by a panel of 40 sportswriters and editors. She and track star Sydney McLaughlin each received the same number of total points (22), but Ledecky won the tiebreaker, with 10 first-place votes compared to nine for McLaughlin.

Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson finished third, followed by South Carolina women’s basketball forward Aliyah Boston and Polish tennis player Iga Świątek in fourth.

“I know so many great athletes have won this honor,” Ledecky said. “I’m really happy — happy with how my year went, and also excited about the future.”

As this year ends, she is eying the 2024 Olympics in Paris, where she is expected to compete in at least four events.

At the world championships in Budapest, she won her specialties — the 800-meter and 1500-meter freestyle — and also won the 400 freestyle and the 4×200 freestyle relay.

She has not slowed down, even as she shifted her training from California to Florida. She has held the long-course world record in both the 800 and 1,500 since 2013, and she won both races by at least 10 seconds at worlds. She also set the short-course records in both events this year, though she rarely competes in short-course races.

“I’m very driven, and I’m always setting new goals for myself no matter what I’ve achieved in the past,” she told NBC Sports earlier this month. “I’m always looking forward, I don’t take very many breaks, and so it’s always on to the next goal and making sure I’m doing the little things right and doing the things I need to do to reach my goals.”

Ledecky has not counted out the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the Associated Press reported.

“I’m always setting new goals for myself,” Ledecky said. “I enjoy the process more and more every year. What it takes to stay at this level. What it takes to continue to have your eyes set on something that’s a couple of years away.”

Katie Ledecky put on a show Tuesday night, clocking her fastest time in the 800-meter freestyle since 2018 on the first day of the five-day U.S. swimming trials in Greensboro, N.C.

Touching the wall in 8 minutes, 9.27 seconds, Ledecky posted the sixth-fastest time ever. She now owns the 26 fastest times in history in the event.

“I’m really happy with that,” Ledecky said. “I felt coming in like I could possibly go under 8:10, and so to say that on the scoreboard was really exciting and the fastest I’ve been in a couple of years. Can’t complain, really happy with that.”

Results from the international team trials will determine the swimmers competing in June’s 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. With her dominant victory, Ledecky punched her ticket to Hungary, joining Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin as the only American swimmers to have competed in at least five world championships.

Ledecky’s forceful showing in Greensboro comes on the heels of a successful Tokyo Olympics for the American star. She took home two gold medals at the Summer Games, including in the 800m freestyle.

The women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay Wednesday night delivered a finish as thrilling as any you’ll see at the Olympics.

All three medal teams broke the world record. China touched first, capturing gold with a time of 7:40.33. The American team of Allison Schmitt, Paige Madden, Katie McLaughlin and Katie Ledecky touched in second in a time of 7:40.73. Meanwhile, gold-medal favorites Australia looked up at the scoreboard in shock after finishing third.

Ariarne Titmus finished her leg in 1:54.51, more than a second off of the 1:53.50 she recorded in the individual race to win gold.

Ledecky, improving upon her individual 200-meter freestyle earlier on in the meet, came home in a thundering 1:53.76 to outpace the rest of the field and help the Americans surpass Australia for silver.

Although the silver medal brings the United States’ gold-medal run in the event to an end, all four swimmers appeared to be more than happy with their performance, cheering as their splits were announced over the loudspeaker in Tokyo.