IIt was one of the most anticipated races in the pool, considered the “race of the century” – the women’s 400 m freestyle, with American Katie Ledecky, who already has 10 Olympic medals, competing against Australian Ariarne Titmus and Canadian Summer McIntosh. .
It is Ledecky’s least dominant event; she last won gold at the 2022 world championships and lost to Titmus in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics. But even though it’s been a while since Ledecky set and broke her own world record in the event twice, from 2014 to 2016, you can never count her out. In recent years, Titmus and teenager McIntosh have traded world record times – Titmus set a new record at the 2022 Australian championships with 3:56.40, which McIntosh bettered a year later with 3:56.08. Titmus, current Olympic champion in the event, has held the current world record since July 2023, with 3:55.38.
The clash at the Paris Olympics began earlier in the day with the heats, with Ledecky qualifying with the fastest time, Titmus with the second fastest and McIntosh with the fourth fastest. The noisy crowd presaged the long-awaited race later in the evening. “It’s crazy that the crowd is so loud for a drum session,” Titmus said.
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Ledecky received the loudest applause when she was introduced, but kept her game face behind her sunglasses, never waving or saluting the crowd but focusing on the next race. She was first out of the blocks with 0.68, but quickly dropped to fourth after the first 50 m and remained there for the first 200 m, then moved up to third, while Titmus and McIntosh held on to first and second, respectively, all the time.
“I would have liked to have been a little faster tonight and I have been faster a few times this season, but we can’t complain about the medals,” Ledecky said. “The top three would probably say we would have liked to have been a little faster. I’m so happy that I put my hand on the wall for a medal. I have two days off to try to improve for the rest of the week.”
Titmus dismissed the rivalry, saying: “I’m really happy to get the result for myself and really honored to be part of the race and to be alongside legends like Katie. I really admire her as an athlete, and it’s certainly not a rivalry beyond racing. I really respect her as a person. His longevity in the sport. It’s good to talk and talk.”
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Ledecky’s bronze was followed by a silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay for the U.S. women behind Australia, while China won bronze. The North American team of Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel managed to finish 1.28 seconds behind the Australians after placing fourth in the first 200 m. Manuel, who has been open about his struggles with overtraining syndrome during the Tokyo Games and now trains with Michael Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman, found extra fuel in the last 20m to overtake Wu Qingfeng, who had overtaken the U.S. on the penultimate lap. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in the anchor position, so I was definitely a little more nervous for that race than I would have liked, but hopefully I can build on that.“, Manuel said. “It’s good to be back here, honestly. I didn’t know if I would ever perform at this level again, so just to have the full circle moment of being on this relay again from 2021 to now, but just in a happier, healthier place, I think is really special.”
Australian women have beaten the USA in four of the last five Olympics; the Americans last won the relay in 2000 in Sydney. The goal, Manuel said, set at the start of training camp once the U.S. Olympic team was named, was to set an American record, which the team accomplished.
That story changed for the men in this relay event; American men own the race at the Olympics, losing gold only four times in the 14 contests since 1964. American men hold the world record for the event, set at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, with Michael Phelps swimming in leg opening.
Australia arrived in Paris as world champions in 2023, while Italy are the silver medalists from Tokyo and the silver medalists from the last two world championships. The Australian team got off to a slow start in the first leg, reaching sixth before the first change, and trailed until seventh before Kyle Chalmers closed the gap in the final 100m. But they still couldn’t touch the Americans and finished 1.07 seconds behind them for silver. The North American team made up of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Caeleb Dressel continued the American streak in the race and led after the first 100 m, without ever looking back. The Italians recovered from seventh place after the first 100 m to alternate with the Australians between second and third place, and ended up falling behind them in the last 50 m.
For Dressel, victory is a sweet reward after taking eight months off after Tokyo, where he struggled to define himself beyond winning swimming races and breaking world records. In February, he and his wife Meghan welcomed their first child, who they brought to Paris, and with his With the help of his family, he said he learned to calm the noise that became so disruptive after Tokyo. Emotions got the better of him as his latest gold medal, his eighth at the Olympics, was placed around his neck. “You can’t explain that moment until you’re on the podium watching the flag go up,” he said.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
