Titmus seals greatness by winning ‘race of the century’ in Paris

Ariarne Titmus had her back to Katie Ledecky before she stepped onto the blocks at Paris La Defence Arena – and that was all the American legend saw of her Australian rival as she powered to victory in the showdown billed as the “race of the century” on the opening night of Olympic competition in the pool.

Titmus collected Australia’s first swimming gold medal of the Paris Games in the women’s 400m freestyle and, in doing so, confirmed her status as a great of Australian swimming.

She is the first woman in almost a century to successfully defend the 400m freestyle, and the first Australian woman to go back to back in any swimming event since Dawn Fraser, who won the 100m at three consecutive Olympics from 1956 to ’64.

Ledecky, the superstar American, appeared to pay a price for a “statement swim” in the morning, when she went out hard in her heat against Titmus. But in the final, the Australian’s main challenger was the 17-year-old Canadian, Summer McIntosh, who took the silver medal ahead of Ledecky.

In the months leading up to Paris, Titmus was almost four seconds quicker than her rivals but she admitted she had felt the pressure of coming in as Olympic champion.

“I know what it feels like to be an Olympic champion. It’s another thing trying to come in and defend your title, it’s a big monkey on your back and I felt that a bit this week,” Titmus said in a poolside interview with Nine’s Ellie Cole. “I get to be back-to-back Olympic champion and that’s pretty cool.”

Gold medallist Ariarne Titmus, centre, stands with silver medallist Summer McIntosh and bronze medallist Katie Ledecky.Credit: Getty Images

This race has a mythology built on the rivalry between Titmus and Ledecky, and on the unforgettable, rail-shaking celebration of Titmus’ coach Dean Boxall in Tokyo three years ago.

“I’m just happy to get the result for myself, and I’m so honoured to be part of the race and be alongside legends like Katie,” Titmus said. “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 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.”

Titmus’ own world record of 3:55.38 remains intact. Her time here - 3:57.49 - was considerably slower, but that didn’t bother the tough, Tasmanian-born swimmer with nails painted sparkling gold.

She has not lost a 400m race since 2018 and there is no sign of her dominance fading.

“I hope nobody looks at me any differently. I’m just the same old goofy Tassie (Tasmanian) girl out here living out her dream,” she said. “I hope it goes to show, anyone can do what they want to do if they work hard and believe in themselves. And here I am, from little old Launie (Launceston), a town of 90,000, and I’m out here living the dream, so I hope that inspired kids back home.”

Titmus will now attack the 200m freestyle, in which her club teammate Mollie O’Callaghan will be her main rival.

Earlier, Elijah Winnington captured Olympic silver in the men’s 400m freestyle behind Germany’s Lukas Maertens.

Three years ago at the Tokyo Games, Winnington entered as hot favourite but crashed to seventh.

“For a couple of months there, I didn’t think I was going to swim again,” he said of his crushing post-Tokyo disappointment.

Fellow Australian Sam Short, who was fancied for gold, was edged out of the medals by the South Korean rival who was at the centre of a pre-Games coaching controversy.

This masthead revealed that Michael Palfrey, a coach on the Australian team, had given a poolside media interview in which he said he’d been coaching Kim Woo-min and hoped he would win the 400. Kim ended up with bronze.

Palfrey’s actions were described by the AOC as a serious error of judgment, but he was allowed to stay in Paris. It remains to be seen whether the controversy was a distraction for Short.

With AAP

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