Ariarne Titmus, Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh: Who wins 400m bragging rights?

Ariarne Titmus, Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh go head-to-head on Sunday at the world swimming championships, Julian Linden breaks down the race of the century.

(L-R) Ledecky, Titmus and McIntosh. Pics

When the stars all align, it’s always worth watching.

Of all the mouth-watering races at this year’s world swimming championships to see, there is one that stands out from the rest.

The women’s 400 metres freestyle – taking place at Fukuoka, Japan on Sunday night – is that race.

Featuring Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, American Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh, the Canadian teenager taking the sport by storm, the three-way showdown has already been likened to swimming’s previous Race of the Century.

Despite the premature anointment, that race, at the 2004 Athens Olympics, lived up to all the hype as Ian Thorpe got the better of Pieter van den Hoogenband and Michael Phelps in a stroke for stroke thriller over 200m freestyle.

But this weekend’s race in Japan could be even better because it represents a rare intersection of the three biggest achievements in the sport.

All the ingredients for an epic battle are there because the race showcases the reigning Olympic champion (Titmus), the defending world champion (Ledecky) and the current world record holder (McIntosh).

Although it’s a precursor to next year’s ultimate clash at the Paris Olympics, this is the one time the past, present and future are all on a level playing field, with each having held the world record in the span of less than a year.

The world record of 3:56.46 that Ledecky set in winning gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics was considered almost unbeatable.

That was until Titmus broke it in June last year at the Australian trials with 3:56.40. But before the Australian could catch her breath, McIntosh went even quicker, stopping the clock at 3:56.06.

Her split times show that the key to her success was going out like a rocket, dipping under 30 seconds for each of her fast five laps.

Ledecky has won four of the last five world championships.

Ariarne Titmus and Katie Ledecky share a laugh after the Women's 400m Freestyle Final at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Picture Getty Images

The 26-year-old is a master of pacing herself, able to maintain an identical stroke rate through the back half of the race when fatigue sets in, while Titmus has the fastest closing lap.

“I think that on paper I‘d say I’m the still Olympic champ going in,” Titmus said,

“I feel like Katie, Summer and I are quite even going in, to be honest.

“I like joining with the underdog narrative. I like when you can kind of pounce, I guess.”

An old fashioned scrapper, the Terminator also has the runs on the board in head to head racing.

She hasn’t lost a 400m race since 2018 and is the only woman to beat Ledecky over the distance in a decade – having gotten the better of the American at the 2019 world championships and again at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Titmus has also beaten McIntosh twice, also at the Tokyo Olympics when the Canadian was just 14, and again at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

As the youngest one of the trio, McIntosh should have the most improvement in her but 22-year-old Titmus wonders whether she can post those times when the pressure is on and thinks big-race know-how could be the decisive factor.

“I feel like with the experience that Katie has had and with what I have had, I feel like we have more experience than Summer racing with the pressure,” Titmus said.

“I feel like Summer hasn‘t raced that experience yet racing on the international stage with the big pressure, so it’ll be interesting to see how she goes.

“But props to her if she goes in as the favourite.”