Katie Ledecky is a phenomenal swimmer. At only 15 years of age, she qualified for the Olympic team in 2012. Since the Olympics she has not lost a single individual race she has competed in at the international level. But I am not going to talk about Katie Ledecky in this article. There is another name that is becoming quite dominant among the distance events for Team USA, and that is Leah Smith.
Smith will be beginning her senior year at the University of Virginia this upcoming. She is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Go PA!) and has produced a great track record that has lead her to get onto the Olympic team in three events; the 400 and 800 meter freestyles and a spot on the 4x200 meter relay.
Looking at her results since the 2012 Olympic trials, she has steadily been improving in the pool. Her short course times have improved to move her up in rankings to control the distance events at NCAA's and last summer she was able to qualify for the Pan Pac Championships with her third place finishes in the 200 and 400 meter freestyles at the Phillips 66 Nationals.
For college swimming, she started out as freshman by placing third in the 1500 at NCAA's. As a sophomore and junior she won the 500 and 1650 at the same meet. After the 2016 Olympics she will return to Virginia to finish her collegiate career. As a senior, her main competition will be against her Olympic teammate in the distance events, Katie Ledecky. Ledecky postponed her enrollment to Stanford to focus on her training for the Olympics. These two will definitely put on a show at NCAA's as they race each other for titles. Smith just might surprise herself against the distance queen just as she was surprised that she was close enough to Ledecky to see her feet at Trials in the 400 meter freestyle. These two will work on bringing out the best in each other during the National team training camp that goes on before the Olympics.
One of the best races to watch during the Olympic finals will be the 4x200 meter freestyle relay. Leah Smith and Katie Ledecky will be teamed up with Missy Franklin and possibly Melanie Margalis or Cierra Runge (National team takes six people for relays where some will swim prelims and the others will swim finals).
Leah Smith has proven that she is among the very best of this country. She has steadily improved her times to be able to qualify for this team and has also gained invaluable experience through her collegiate training and previous international competitions. Watch as Leah Smith helps Team USA make a splash in Rio!
