World championship showdown with Katie Ledecky key to Ariarne Titmus’s Paris Olympic preparations

Ariarne Titmus says her world championship showdown with Katie Ledecky this year will be key to whether she is able to defend her Olympic gold in Paris in 2024.

Ariarne Titmus has revealed this year’s world championship showdown in Fukuoka will be a crucial component of her Paris Games preparations after her 2019 victory over great rival Katie Ledecky proved a crucial stepping stone to Olympic gold.

Titmus beat distance great Ledecky for the first time at the 2019 world championships in South Korea, with the win in the 400m freestyle providing a massive boost ahead of their epic Tokyo Olympic showdown.

The Brisbane swimmer prevailed as she and the American rated by many as the greatest distance swimmer of all time went stroke for stroke down the final lap in Tokyo, winning the first of two individual gold medals at the Olympics.

Australia's Ariarne Titmus wins gold in the Women's 400m Freestyle final and poses next to USA's Katie Ledecky at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Pic: Adam Head

And Titmus is certain this year’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan – where she will face Ledecky for the first time since the Olympics, as well as rising Canadian star Summer McIntosh in the fastest 400m freestyle field in history – will be key again.

“I think that the world championships in the lead-up to the Olympics is probably the most important meet other than the Olympics in an Olympic cycle,” Titmus said from the Australian swim team’s camp on the Gold Coast.

“Psychologically it’s more important than anything to give you that confidence boost that you’re on the right path and you’re tracking well to perform in 12 months’ time.

“I haven’t raced Katie (Ledecky) since the Olympics, so I’m excited to have a red hot crack. I believe that this field in the 400 freestyle is probably once in a lifetime that we’re seeing.

“I don’t think we would ever see three women swim under four minutes at the same time, so I think it’s exciting for swimming fans and swimming around the world in general to be able to experience that competitiveness.”

Canada's Summer McIntosh (L) shows off the silver medal she won behind Australia's Ariarne Titmus in the women's 400m freestyle at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Photo: AFP

While she competed at the Commonwealth Games last year, winning four gold medals, Titmus skipped the world championships, believing she needed a “mental reprieve”, while she also bypassing the world shortcourse titles in Melbourne, preferring to head back into training.

“That decision definitely has worked because now I’m very excited to get back to racing at a world championships,” she said.

While her 2019 world championship win over Ledecky gave her enormous stores of belief ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, Titmus knows she can’t just tread the same ground if she is to keep up with the advances being made by her rivals.

“Being able to put together a race where I still went out fast and was able to sustain myself, especially in Guangzhou (the 2019 world champs) coming home in the last 50m, definitely gave me confidence that I could execute that plan at the Olympics,” she said.

“I definitely think that I’m going to have to change that plan a little bit for the (Paris) Olympics because you can’t always do the same thing – you have to find new areas and new ways to get faster and better.

“It’s about finding new ways to try and still end up on top.”

US Katie Ledecky (L) and Ariarne Titmus go stroke for stroke in the final of the women's 400m freestyle at the 2019 World Championships in South Korea before Titmus touches the wall in first place. Photo: AFP

If the lead-up to the last Olympics was about learning to be a “fearless racer”, as Titmus believes, this year is all about the Olympics even if the next Games are still more than a year off.

“Everything I’m thinking about now is Paris,” she said.

“That’s the main goal and everything I do now is to make sure I perform at Paris so performing at a world championships should put me in good stead to perform at the Olympic Games.”

That mindset started straight after her Tokyo triumphs.

“I started thinking about Paris in 2021. This is not something you just think about the year of – otherwise you’re never going to win,” she said.

“You set out a massive plan and timeline and everything I’m doing this year is in the hope that it will prepare me for the best possible position to win in Paris.”

Originally published as World championship showdown with Katie Ledecky key to Ariarne Titmus’s Paris Olympic preparations