Katie Ledecky, Caeleb Dressel win at swim trials, make world championships team

Katie Ledecky and Caeleb Dressel, who now share a training base, qualified for June’s world championships by winning events on the first day of the five-day U.S. swimming trials in Greensboro, N.C., on Tuesday night.

Ledecky, a 10-time Olympic medalist, made her 10th consecutive national team by dominating the 800m freestyle, her trademark event, in 8:09.27, the sixth-fastest time in history and her best in four years. She let out a rare thunderous celebration, splashing the water once. It’s her first trials meet since moving from Stanford to Gainesville, Florida, last fall.

“I haven’t been under 8:10 in a couple of years now, and that was a little bit of a goal in mind coming in,” Ledecky, who won the Tokyo Olympic title in 8:12.57, said on Olympic Channel.

Ledecky, who owns the 26 fastest times in history, distanced runner-up Leah Smith by 8.25 seconds. Smith has finished second to Ledecky in eight trials races in her career.

U.S. SWIMMING TRIALS: Results | Broadcast Schedule

Ledecky is on a 50-plus-meet win streak in the 800m free dating to 2010 (when she was 13 years old), according to a hand count of USA Swimming database times. She has been known to set goal times years out from the Olympics, but hasn’t done so yet under new coach Anthony Nesty.

“First goal is just to make the worlds team,” she said. “We talk a lot about improvement. … Of course, improvement looks a little different for me than some other people given that my times are really hard to improve. I’ve acknowledged that, and I’ve learned that over the years.”

Bobby Finke, the Olympic men’s 800m and 1500m free gold medalist who won the latter on Tuesday, said Ledecky has beaten him in training at Florida.

“I’m not afraid to say it,” he said. “Those times