Mt. Lebanon's Smith qualifies for 400 free final in swimming

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Leah Smith of Mt. Lebanon qualified for Sunday night's Olympic 400-meter freestyle final Sunday night by taking third in the preliminary round this afternoon with a time of 4:03:39.

She took second in her heat, though she'd spent most of the race third. But at the 300-meter turn, the leader, Canada's Brittany MacLean, dropped off rapidly behind Great Britain's Jazz Carlin, the eventual winner of the heat, and Smith.

All times were obliterated in the fourth and final heat by Katie Ledecky, the precocious 19-year-old American, who set an Olympic record with 3:58:71. She had briefly threatened her own world record of 3:58:37. She also owns the world records in the 800 and 1,500.

For the entire preliminary, the order was Ledecky, Carlin and Smith, but the five-second chasm between first and second clearly established Ledecky as the heavy favorite tonight.

More to come.