Katie Hoff wins 400-meter freestyle at nationals

Katie Hoff is starting to feel at home again — in California and on the winner’s podium.

Hoff finished first in the 400-meter freestyle final at the national championships in Irvine on Tuesday. Her time of 4:05.50 at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center was 2010’s fourth-fastest time in the world. Hoff was seeded No. 1 in the final after swimming a 4:08.25 in the preliminaries earlier in the day.

Just three weeks ago, at the Los Angeles Grand Prix on July 13, Hoff set a meet record with 4:06.21, at that point the seventh-fastest time the 400 had been swum in 2010, but now the eighth.

Hoff, a Palo Alto native, moved to Southern California late last summer, and can feel the home-pool advantage.

“It definitely feels more comfortable swimming in a pool that I’ve swam in all year,” she said.

Hoff spent most of her swimming career at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, with which she swam in two Olympic Games and saw success in a variety of events, especially in the 400 freestyle. She set the national record in that event, 4:02.20, in February 2008. She won it at the national championships and took silver at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

But after Beijing, Hoff was unable to match that success in Baltimore. Her 2009 times weren’t up to par, and she failed to qualify for the world championships. She came down with a respiratory infection. She questioned her identity and at age 20 considered quitting the sport in which she’d been competing at an international level since she was 15.

“It’s been a long journey, a tough one,” she said. “But I’m getting back up there.”

Instead of leaving swimming, Hoff left Baltimore. She traveled across the country, joined forces with coach Sean Hutchinson and began training with the Fullerton Aquatics Swim Team. So far, the move has paid off — but Hoff won’t call it a comeback, despite now owning two of the world’s top times.

“I’ve definitely put myself in a great position ... but I can’t think too much like that,” she said.

Hoff will swim the 100- and 200-meter freestyle events at the nationals but has yet to decide whether she will swim the 400-meter individual medley.

Tuesday’s other results

Christine Magnuson took gold and set the world’s fastest 2010 time in the star-studded women’s 100-meter butterfly final. Magnuson finished the race with a time of 57.32, which edged out the 57.39 fellow American Dana Vollmer swam earlier this year. Vollmer finished second, Kathlee Hersey was third, Natalie Coughlin finished fourth, and Mary Mohler was seventh.

Ryan Lochte won the gold in the men’s 400-meter individual medley. He finished with a time of 4:09.98, nearly five seconds ahead of second-place Tyler Clary.

laura.myers@latimes.com