Katie Hoff

Katie Hoff has seen the future. Between her smashing victories at the world swimming championships 4 1/2 months ago and her triumphs at nationals last week, Hoff toured Beijing to see what next year will bring. She did the tourist things but also inspected the outside of the swimming venue and viewed a model of the unfinished Olympic pool. With the Summer Olympics set to begin one year from today, Hoff said she liked what she saw. "I think it gave me a great advantage to be able to know what to expect and what it's going to be like," Hoff said of her spring visit.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Baltimore's best swimmers traveled to the Midwest and spurred high hopes for what they might accomplish a year from now in the Far East. Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff were named the top individual performers at the ConocoPhillips USA Swimming Nationals last night. Phelps leaves here with six new gold medals, including one from last night's 400-meter medley relay, won in 3 minute, 38.32 seconds, and Hoff won three national titles, capped by an impressive win in the 200-meter individual medley last night.

As Tiger Woods embarked on winning a fifth green jacket at this year's Masters, he took a moment to reflect on another athlete, someone nearly 10,000 miles away whose athletic uniform wouldn't come close to satisfying the dress code at Augusta National. "Anyone who is a sports fanatic, you are always going to be intrigued by other sportsmen, and what they are able to accomplish. What he's done, truly remarkable," Woods says. "Not only is he winning, but he's also setting records, world records.

On Monday, Katie Hoff won the 200-meter individual medley at the FINA world championships with the fourth-fastest time in history (2:10.41). This morning, she goes for another medal in the 200 freestyle. She set an American record (1:57.19) yesterday in the semifinals of the 200 free (she's shown at left on finishing that race).

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA -- Imagine this: You check into your hotel after a long flight across the ocean, grab a towel and swimsuit, and head to the pool for a quick dip before lunch. It's empty, except for one person, a 17-year-old girl methodically swimming laps. The water churns and parts as she glides along, powered by a stroke that is technically perfect.

At 17, Katie Hoff and Kimmie Meissner are already Olympic veterans, each making her mark by bending water to her will. Hoff, of Towson, cuts an imposing figure as the fastest swimmer in the world in the 200-meter and 400-meter individual medley. Meissner, of Bel Air, glides on the surface as the reigning world and national figure skating champion. This week the teens are half a world away from home, trying to burnish their international credentials with an eye toward the next Olympics.

IRVINE, CALIF. -- As the sun went down Saturday night, bringing the USA Swimming National Championships to a close, two of the world's best swimmers attempted to unwind in two distinctly different ways. On one side of the William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center, Katie Hoff, 17, stood in street clothes, earnestly watching the last race of the day, the men's 400-meter medley relay. When it was over, she listened closely to a story being told by her coach, Paul Yetter, then laughed at the punch line.

MONTREAL - When the national anthem started to play last night, Katie Hoff took a deep, cleansing breath. And then another. She swallowed hard, then bit her lower lip. Was it really real, she may have wondered? Was there actually a gold medal dangling from her neck? You'd better believe it. Hoff, the bubbly 16-year-old from Abingdon, put to bed any questions about her ability to deliver in big races yesterday, winning the 200-meter individual medley in impressive fashion at the FINA World Championships.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Abingdon's Katie Hoff has grown physically by at least a half-inch, approaching 5 feet 9, over the months since the 2004 Summer Olympics, and this past week, during the U.S. world championship trials, she has grown in stature within swimming, too. Yesterday, after Hoff, 15, had finished her last preliminary qualifying effort in the 200-meter freestyle, Jack Bauerle, coach of the American women's world championships team, was trying to...