BUDAPEST, June 18, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - While other stars conserved their energy
on the opening morning of the World Swimming Championships in Budapest on
Saturday, Katie Ledecky made a statement in her first qualifying swim.
 
In the women's 400m freestyle qualifying, the 25-year-old American was the
only swimmer to break four minutes, finishing in 3min 59.79sec, 3.40sec ahead
of Canadian 15-year-old sensation Summer McIntosh.

Ledecky's greatest rival, Australian Ariarne Titmus, is skipping the
championships. Titmus overhauled Ledecky on the final lap in the last worlds
in 2019. The first time Ledecky had lost in the event in a major
championship.

Titmus then edged Ledecky in the Olympic final last year and ended the
American's eight-year grip on the world record in May, with a time of 3min
56.40sec.

On Saturday, Ledecky may have left the field trailing in her wake but she was
still more than 2 seconds behind her phantom foe.

Home favourite Katinka Hosszu opened the championships, in the women's 200m
individual medley first round.

Hungary's 'Iron Lady', who won two world titles the last time the
championships were in Budapest, qualified 11th 2.36 slower than American Alex
Walsh and five-and-a-half seconds outside her own world record.

At 33, the question remains whether she can shake off the rust.

Other big names also swum unspectacular times while still ensuring they
qualified.

Australian phenom Kaylee McKeown was only seventh while champion Yui Ohashi
from Japan qualified 12th.

- 'Chance to roar' -

Lukas Martens, the 20-year-old German who this season sliced three seconds
off his best time while swimming 3:41.60, the fastest 400m free since 2017,
was more than three-and-a-half seconds off that time as he qualified fourth
fastest in the event.

Austrian Felix Auboeck scorched through the last 100m in the final heat to
lead all qualifiers in 3min 43.83.

Surprise Olympic champion, Tunisian Ahmed Hafnaoui did not race.

American teenager Torri Huske led the qualifiers in the women's 100m
butterfly, followed by France's Marie Wattel and Zhang Yufei who is chasing
China's eighth championship medal in the event.

Dylan Carter from Trinidad, twice a short-course world championship
medallist, beat 23 seconds for the first time in his career to lead the 50m
butterfly qualifying in 22.87.

American Caeleb Dressel then won the seventh heat and mustachioed Italian
Thomas Ceccon the last, both in 22.88.

World record holder Andrii Govorov from Ukraine was seventh and Nicholas
Santos was 13th, but only two-thirds of a second separated the qualifiers in
an event decided by fingernails.

With Adam Peaty, the Briton who has dominated the men's 100m breaststroke,
absent, perennial runner up, Dutchman Arno Kamminga started his chase for a
first gold when he was fastest in qualifying ahead of Nic Fink of the USA.

Two 20-year-olds, Frenchman Leon Marchand and American Carson Foster, were
fastest in the men's 400 medley but the old guard were close behind. world
champion Chase Kalisz was third fastest followed by Japanese reigning world
champion Daiya Seto.

Home fans had a final chance to roar in the last event of the morning after
Hungary chased the USA home to qualify third in the men's 4 x 100m freestyle
relay.