It was one of the most anticipated races in the pool, billed as the “race of the century”—the women’s 400-m freestyle, featuring American Katie Ledecky, who already owns 10 Olympic medals, racing against Australian Ariarne Titmus and Canadian Summer McIntosh.
It’s 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 although 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 the teen McIntosh have traded world-record times—Titmus set a new record in 2022 at the Australian championships at 3:56.40, which McIntosh bested a year later at 3:56.08. Titmus, the defending Olympic champion in the event, has held the current world record since July 2023, at 3:55.38.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]The matchup 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 the fourth fastest. The boisterous crowd presaged the highly anticipated race later in the evening. “It’s crazy that the crowd is so loud for a heat session,” Titmus said.
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Ledecky received the loudest cheers when she was introduced but kept her game face on behind dark goggles, never waving or acknowledging the crowd but focusing instead on the upcoming race. She was first off the blocks with a 0.68, but quickly fell to fourth after the first 50 m and remained there through the first 200 m, then pulled up to third while Titmus and McIntosh held in first and second, respectively, throughout.
“I would have liked to have been a little faster tonight and I’ve been faster a few times this season, but you can’t complain with the medals,” Ledecky said. “The top three would probably all say that we would have liked to have been a little faster. I’m so happy I got my hand to the wall for a medal. I get two days of rest so I can try to be better the rest of the week.”
Titmus discounted the rivalry, saying, “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. 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.”
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Ledecky’s bronze was followed by a silver in the 4×100-m freestyle relay for the U.S. women, behind Australia, while China earned bronze. The U.S. team of Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske, and Simone Manuel held on to finish 1.28 seconds behind the Australians, after trailing in fourth place for the first 200 m. Manuel, who has been open about her struggles with overtraining syndrome during the Tokyo Games, and now trains with Michael Phelps’ coach Bob Bowman, found some extra fuel in the last 20 m to out-touch Wu Qingfeng, who had pulled ahead of the U.S. in the next to last lap. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in the anchor position, so I definitely was a bit more nervous for that race than I would have liked to be, but hopefully I can build from that,” Manuel said. “It just feels good to be back here, honestly. I didn’t know if I would ever be performing 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 and healthier place, I think is really special.”
The Australian women have beaten the U.S. in four of the past 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 did.
That history is flipped for the men in this relay event; the U.S. men have owned the race at the Olympics, only missing gold four times in the 14 that it’s been held since 1964. The U.S. men hold the world record in the event, set at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 with Michael Phelps swimming the opening leg.
Australia came into Paris as the world champions from 2023, while Italy are the silver medalists from Tokyo and silver medalists from the last two world championships. The Australian team got off to a slow start in the first leg, touching in at sixth place before the first switch-off, and dropped behind as far as seventh before Kyle Chalmers narrowed the gap in the last 100 m. But they still couldn’t touch the Americans and finished 1.07 seconds behind them for silver. The U.S. team of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong, and Caeleb Dressel continued the American streak in the event and led after the first 100 m, never looking back. The Italians rallied from seventh place after the first 100 m to toggle with the Australians between second and third, and ultimately fell behind them in the last 50 m.
For Dressel, the win is a sweet reward after taking eight months off after Tokyo, in which he struggled with defining himself outside of winning swim races and breaking world records. In February, he and wife Meghan welcomed their first child, whom they brought to Paris, and with his family’s help, he’s said that he learned to quiet the noise that became so damaging after Tokyo . The emotions got best of him when his latest gold medal, his eighth from the Olympics, was placed around his neck. “You can’t explain this moment until you’re on the podium watching the flag go up,” he said.
