Defending Olympic champion Katie Ledecky (Bethesda, Md./Stanford Swimming) posted the fastest time in the world this year in the women’s 200-meter freestyle Saturday at the arena Pro Swim Series at Santa Clara at George F. Haines International Swim Center.

Ledecky finished in 1 minute, 55.34 seconds, touching ahead of Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong in 1:58.14 and Stanford teammate Katie Drabot (Cedarburg, Wis./Stanford Swimming) in 1:58.85. Ledecky also won the 1500m free on Thursday in Santa Clara.

“It’s good to race those two events here this weekend and get some focus racing in,” said Ledecky. “I just focused on what I wanted to do in those races and kind of make some tweaks along the way and try out some things. I’m really happy with how it went.”

With back-to-back wins, Olympian Jay Litherland (Alpharetta, Ga./Dynamo Swim Club) highlighted tonight’s men’s 400m individual medley and 200m free events. Litherland cruised to his first win in the 400m IM in 4:13.79 and only 20 minutes later was victorious in a tightly contested 200m free in 1:49.28, just .21 seconds ahead of the next competitor.

Other USA Swimming National Team members picking up wins Saturday included:

• Madisyn Cox (Lubbock, Texas/Longhorn Aquatics) in the women’s 400m IM in 4:39.07
• Kelsi Worrell (Westampton, N.J./Cardinal Aquatics) in the women’s 50m free in 25.11
• Ryan Murphy (Jacksonville, Fla./California Aquatics) in the men’s 100m back in 1:57.09

International winners included Canada’s Hilary Caldwell in the women’s 200m back in 2:09.20 and Russia’s Vladimir Morozov in the men’s 50m free in 21.97.

The meet concludes Sunday with day four prelims at 9 a.m. PT and finals at 5 p.m., airing live on NBC Sports Network. A live webcast also will be available at usaswimming.org.