American notches her second gold medal of the world championships in Kazan, beating a strong field including Franklin and Federica Pellegrini

Katie Ledecky won the 200m freestyle at the world swimming championships Wednesday night against a stellar field that included defending champion Missy Franklin of the United States and two-time winner Federica Pellegrini.

The 18-year-old American rallied from fourth after the first two laps to touch first in 1min 55.16sec for her second gold medal of the championships. Ledecky already won the 1500 freestyle, lowering her own world record in the preliminaries and final.

Pellegrini of Italy finished second in 1:55.32, and Franklin was third in 1:55.49.

Femke Heemskerk of the Netherlands took it out strongly, dipping under world-record pace on the opening lap. She was still in front through the third lap before fading to eighth.

Adam Peaty takes second gold at world championships in 50m breaststroke Read more

Katinka Hosszu of Hungary, the 200m individual medley winner in world-record time, was fifth.

Two years ago in Barcelona, Ledecky won four golds and set two world records. The recent high school graduate is showing no signs of slowing down in Kazan, where she still has the 400m and 800m freestyles remaining.

Better known as a distance specialist, Ledecky was competing in the 200m freestyle for the first time at the worlds.

Ledecky’s successes have been the lone bright spot for the US team halfway through the meet in Kazan.

Franklin picked up her second bronze medal, having helped the US finish third in the 4x100 free relay Sunday. She was fifth in the 100 backstroke. She recently turned professional after swimming in college for two years, and has yet to regain the form that carried her to a record six gold medals two years ago at the worlds.

Laszlo Cseh of Hungary overtook Chad Le Clos to win the 200 butterfly as the oldest man in the final at age 29.

Cseh trailed Le Clos after the first two laps before passing the South African midway through the third lap. He hung on and touched first in 1:53.48.

Defending champion Le Clos settled for silver in 1:53.68, and Jan Switkowski of Poland earned bronze in 1:54.10.

Britain’s Gary Hunt wins high-diving gold at world championships Read more

“I tried to take it out really hard. I wanted to see if I could scare them off the first 100 but it didn’t work out,” Le Clos said. “I was massively disappointed not to win of course, but massive congrats to Laszlo. He’s a great champion, and he’s a great friend of mine. He’s had a great season.”

It was Cseh’s first gold at the worlds since 2005 in Montreal, where he won the 400 individual medley. He has reunited with his childhood coach ahead of next year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Michael Phelps, the world-record holder, was forced to miss the world meet as part of his suspension by USA Swimming after a second drunk-driving arrest.

Vladimir Morozov of Russia, a gold-medal favorite in the 100 free, was disqualified for a false start after winning his semifinal heat. He sat on the lane line in shock after the announcement.

Morozov had the fastest time in the world this year coming into the championships. He finished fifth in the event two years ago.