The 2024 TYR Pro Swim Series kicked off this evening at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center in Knoxville, Tennessee. For the second consecutive year, distance freestyle veterans Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Gator Swim Club) and Bobby Finke (Clearwater, Fla./Gator Swim Club) captured the 1500m freestyle titles.  

Ledecky’s time of 15:38.81 was good for the seventeenth-fastest performance in history and more than seven seconds faster than her performance a month ago at the Toyota U.S. Open. Winning heat three, Ashley Wall (née Twichell) (Fayetteville, N.Y./TAC Titans) took second overall with a time of 16:31.13. Tennessee teammates Aly Breslin (Fort Washington, Pa./University of Tennessee) and Kate McCarville (Springfield, Mo./University of Tennessee) finished third and fourth at 16:43.09 and 16:44.37, respectively. Finke looked comfortable as he took home the Men’s 1500m freestyle title, winning the race by more than 10 seconds.   

Women’s 1500m Freestyle – FINAL  
1 – Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Gator Swim Club), 15:38.81
2- Ashley Wall (Fayetteville, N.Y./TAC Titans), 16:31.13
3 – Aly Breslin (Fort Washington, Pa./Tennessee Aquatics), 16:43.09 

Ledecky on her race: “It's good to start the year here. I’m looking forward to racing this week and that [time] was pretty much right on where it was last year for me. I'm happy with that and happy with how things have been going.”  

Men’s 1500m Freestyle – FINAL  
1 – Bobby Finke (Clearwater, Fla./Gator Swim Club), 15:04.43 
2 – Felix Auboeck (AUT), 15:14.70 
3 – Levi Sandidge (Richardson, Texas/University of Kentucky), 15:28.71 

Finke on the start of the Olympic year: “We've been training for this for the past three years now, I guess. So, finally being here, it's exciting. I'm looking forward to it and our group is feeling pretty well. Hoping for good times to come ahead.” 

Competition continues through Saturday at the Allan Jones Aquatic Center. Tomorrow’s action features the 100m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, 200m butterfly and 400m freestyle. Thursday-Saturday prelims will begin at 9 a.m. ET, while finals start at 6 p.m. ET.

Live streams of all sessions and event replays are available on the USA Swimming Network. Live results will be posted to @USASwimmingNews on X.