Lilly King, Drew Kibler swim to top of the world in securing Team USA spots

Lilly King had done it all before. Drew Kibler had not.

Both Indiana swimmers will be medal contenders over 200 meters in June’s World Championships at Budapest, Hungary. King ranks No. 1 in the world this year and Kibler No. 2.

King, a five-time Olympic medalist from Indiana University, held off college superstar Kate Douglass of Virginia to win the 200-meter breaststroke Wednesday night in the International Team Trials at Greensboro, N.C.

More: Grieving Annie Lazor beats Lilly King at Olympic Trials: 'We've been to hell and back together.'

More: From teen swim star to ill at trials, Carmel's Drew Kibler's first Olympics just the start

Top two in each event make Team USA.

Kibler finished second in the 200-meter freestyle and became the first Carmel swimmer to secure an individual spot on a world team. He had previously been first to make an Olympic team (last year), first to win an NCAA title (200-yard freestyle last month) and first to make a world team (Tuesday night).

In the 200 breaststroke, King finished in 2:21.19, Douglass in 2:21.43 and Annie Lazor in 2:21.91 – the three fastest times in the world this year. For the second spot, Douglass beat Lazor, who is King’s training partner in Bloomington and won a bronze medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

IU’s Mackenzie Looze was sixth in 2:27.60.

King, silver medalist in the 200 breaststroke, and Douglas, bronze medalist in the 200 individual medley, will be favorites at Budapest. Olympic champion Tatjana Schoenmaker of South Africa has announced she will not compete at Budapest. Douglas won three NCAA individual titles last month, breaking King's American record in the 200-yard breaststroke.

In the 200 freestyle, Florida’s Kieran Smith clocked 1:45.25 to 1:45.32 for the fast-finishing Kibler. They rank 1-2 in the world.

Smith was sixth in the 200 free at Tokyo in 1:44.74, or No. 3 on the all-time U.S. list. Kibler climbed to No. 9, improving his best of 1:45.92 from last year’s Olympic Trials.

Kibler had tentatively made the world team in the 400 freestyle relay by tying for fourth in the 100 freestyle on night 1 of these five-day trials.

“My plan was to jump on the first 100 like I did last summer a lot of the times, and man that last 50 hurt really bad,” Smith said in an Olympic Channel interview. “Drew’s been putting together really good 200 frees, so I just knew I had to get it done.”

Smith won a bronze medal at the Olympics in the 400 freestyle.

Kibler and third-place Carson Foster (1:45.66) were two of four Texas Longhorns in the eight-man final. Entering the day, only four swimmers in the world had been under 1:46 this year.

More: Fishers' JoJo Ramey never won a high school state title but is an international medalist

Elsewhere, Phoebe Bacon set a U.S. Open record of 2:05.08 in the women's 200 backstroke to beat Ryan White, 2:05.13. World record-holder Regan Smith was third in 2:05.65. Those are the three fastest times in the world this year.

Fishers’ JoJo Ramey was eighth in 2:10.92, two seconds slower than her time from last year’s Olympic Trials. However, the 17-year-old Ramey secured a spot in August’s Junior Pan Pacific meet at Honolulu.

In the men's 200 backstroke, Carmel's Wyatt Davis was 10th in 1:59.95, his fastest time since winning a gold medal at the 2019 World Junior Championships.

Another high school swimmer, Carmel freshman Alex Shackell, was 11th in the women’s 50 butterfly in 26.86 and top junior. Shackell, 15, had made Junior Pan Pacs in the 200 butterfly Tuesday night.

Claire Curzan, a 17-year-old, was .01 off the American record in winning the 50 butterfly in 25.49. Caeleb Dressel won the men's 50 fly in 22.84, breaking the U.S. Open record of 22.91 set by Bryan Lundquist at Indianapolis in 2009.

Katie Ledecky won her second race in as many nights, taking the 200 freestyle in 1:55.15. Claire Weinstein of Las Vegas was second in 1:57.08, fastest ever by an American 15-year-old. (Ledecky clocked 1:58.66 at age 15.)

Contact IndyStar reporter David Woods at david.woods@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods0007.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Lilly King, Drew Kibler swim onto world team