Ariane Titmuss once again defeated America’s Katie Ledecky at the Olympics and retained her title in the 400m freestyle in one of the most anticipated races of the Paris Olympics.
Australian star Titmus, known as “The Terminator”, won the event in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, giving Ledecky her second consecutive loss at the event.
Titmus, who wore Australian yellow paint on her nails, led from start to finish. The 23-year-old Titmus faced a strong challenge from Canadian veteran Summer McIntosh but won comfortably in three minutes and 57.49 seconds.
“Honestly I felt more expectation and pressure for this race than anything in my life, and I’m pretty good at handling pressure, but I definitely felt it,” Titmus said.
“I’m so happy to have the result for myself and I feel so honoured to have been part of this race and to be with legends like Katie.
“I have a lot of respect for him as an athlete, and there’s definitely no rivalry beyond the race. I have a lot of respect for him as a person,” Titmus said.
Canada’s 17-year-old McIntosh won the silver medal in 3:58.37 minutes, while Ledecky of the United States took the bronze in 4:00.86 minutes.
Ledecky has won six individual gold medals in her illustrious career – still the most by any female swimmer in Olympic history.
Titmus now has three individual Olympic victories to her credit. She won the 200 and 400m freestyle in Tokyo and hopes to do the double in Paris.
Ledecky is not done yet. She passed up the chance to face Titmus in the 200-meter freestyle, but the American is a favorite to win gold in both the 800 and 1,500 meters.
Maertens won gold for Germany in the men’s 400m freestyle event
Germany’s Lucas Martens became the first swimming champion at the Paris Olympics when he won his first Olympic gold in the men’s 400 m freestyle, which was held shortly before the women’s event.
Emerging victorious from a final packed with world champions, Maertens broke the world record in three minutes and 41.78 seconds to finish ahead of Australian silver medallist Elijah Winnington and South Korean bronze medallist Kim Woo-min at the La Defence Arena.
Maertens, 22, came into the race with the fastest time this year and triumphed on the biggest stage to become the first German winner of the event since Uwe Dassler took the title for East Germany at the 1988 Seoul Games.
The German ran at world record pace for the final 50 metres, and it proved enough despite a faster performance from Winnington, who won his second Olympic medal.
Australia sets Olympic record in women’s 4x100m freestyle relay
Australia finished tied two-two with American opponents in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay, winning their fourth consecutive Olympic title in the event.
The quartet of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris set an Olympic record with a winning time of three minutes and 28.92 seconds.
The US team – Kate Douglas, Gretchen Walsh, Tori Huske and Simone Manuel – won silver in 3:30.20, beating the Chinese team of Yang Junxuan, Cheng Yujie, Zhang Yufei and Wu Qingfeng by a tenth of a second.
Dressel gives US gold in men’s 4x100m freestyle relay
The US team, led by Caeleb Dressel, won the gold medal in the men’s 4×100-meter Olympic relay.
The quartet of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Dressel finished the race in three minutes and 9.28 seconds, with Australia taking silver in 3:10.35 and Italy taking bronze in 3:10.70.
But the United States had to struggle after an early stage when 100m world record holder Pan Zhanle of China ran two fast laps.
The leading American players came back into contention with Dressel’s help and carried them across the finish line.
Kyle Chalmers performed brilliantly in the closing stages to give Australia the silver medal, his time of 46.59 seconds being the fastest of any swimmer.
The United States has long dominated the event, winning 10 of the 14 times they have competed in it before the Paris Olympics. They have only missed out on top spot in 2000 (Australia), 2004 (South Africa) and 2012 (France), and that was as a result of a boycott in 1980.
