The race that everyone turned out to see never really got going.
The women’s 400-meter freestyle race, billed as a rematch between rivals Ariarne Titmus of Australia and Katie Ledecky of the US, was one of the most hotly anticipated contests of the first full day of competition in the Paris Games. Titmus had defeated Ledecky three years ago in Tokyo, handing the American her first ever individual Olympic defeat.
While the 400m is not Ledecky’s best race, she finished ahead of Titmus in a semifinal heat. American hopes were raised as anticipation built in La Défense Arena, just outside of Paris.
But the matchup wasn’t really much of a contest at all. Titmus ended Ledecky’s hopes of revenge, dominating the race and finishing almost a full second ahead of Canada’s Summer McIntosh, who took silver.
Ledecky finished a distant third, about three seconds off the pace.
“I’m just happy to get the result for myself, and I’m so honored to be part of the race and be alongside legends like Katie,” Titmus told reporters post-race. “I look up to her so much as an athlete, and it is certainly not a rivalry beyond the races. I really respect her as a person, her longevity in the sport. It’s nice to catch up and have a chat.”
“It’s fun racing the best in the world. It gets the best out of me; it gets the best out of them. I really hope all the hype lived up to the expectation. I really hope that I put on a good show tonight and everyone enjoyed it.”
The Australian led from the initial buzzer to the final touch of the wall. Ledecky, meanwhile, seemed to be slow out of the blocks, lagging in fourth for much of the first half of the race.
As the crowd roared, it seemed like Ledecky was just unable to kick it into the next gear she needed to catch Titmus and McIntosh.
“I mean, probably the top three, we probably all would say that we would have liked to have been a little faster,” Ledecky said after the race.
“Everyone in that that field put up a great race,” she added. “Ariarne and Summer swam really, really well. I haven’t looked at how the whole race broke down. You know, I could only see it from my lane, but yeah, kudos on some great races, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the week.”
‘I left everything out there’
Titmus said in the mixed zone that she felt herself fading toward the end of the race, but she showed no real signs of fatigue as she stretched her hand toward the wall.
“I felt pretty good the whole way. I’ve no idea what my splits were, I started to feel it in the last hundred (meters),” she said. “But I left everything out there, I gave it everything I could. It’s probably not the time I was capable of, but living in the Village makes it hard for high performance. It’s not made for high performance. It’s about who can keep it together in the mind.”
The result seems to put an end to the rivalry between the two swimmers for now. They will face off again in the 800-meter freestyle later on in the Games, but that race is one of Ledecky’s specialties and she’ll be favored. Titmus, meanwhile, will race in the 200-meter freestyle and Ledecky will also compete in the 1,500-meter freestyle – another one of her top events.
Ledecky doesn’t see it as a rivalry anyhow.
“I wouldn’t consider it a rivalry. I mean, I think it’s a friendship, if anything,” she said.
“You know, we have a lot of respect for each other, and we love competing against each other. It brings the best out of each of us, and I’m sure, you know, pushes each of us in training, knowing that we have each other to race at these kinds of meets. So, yeah, it’s just competing against the best in the world.”
