400 metres Freestyle, Women

The defending champion was America’s Katie Ledecky who had not lost at this distance since before the Rio Olympics, where she had set the world record, except for the 2019 World Championships, where she was ill. This was expected to be a two-woman race as Australia’s Ariarne Titmus had been coming closer to Ledecky’s times, had won that match-up at the 2019 Worlds, and recorded the second fastest time ever at the Australian Olympic Trials with 3:56.90.

Both qualified for the final easily, with Ledecky first, Titmus third, and China’s Li Bingjie in the middle. The final was on Monday morning, and was much anticipated. Ledecky took the lead early, splitting 57.67 at 100 metres and holding the lead through almost 350 metres. Titmus, as is her style, held back slightly but was expected to finish faster, and it was notable that although Ledecky led, she never opened much of a gap over Titmus.

And just past 300 metres Titmus pulled ahead slightly, reaching the final turn with a 0.22 margin. Ledecky could not respond as Titmus increased her lead to win gold in 3:56.69, as Ledecky finished in 3:57.36. Titmus’s time was the second fastest ever, and Ledecky swam her second fastest 400 in finishing second.

Immediately the discussion began of the legendary status of the race, many swim experts calling it the greatest ever women’s Olympic race. Few argued with that. Almost as notable as Titmus was her coach, Dean Boxall, who went into a wild celebration of fist-pumping, arm waving, and screaming up in the stands.

Titmus and Ledecky were more restrained and spoke admirably of each other, Titmus noting, “I wouldn’t be here without her. She’s set this standard for middle-distance freestyle. If I didn’t have someone like her to chase, I definitely wouldn’t be swimming the way I am.”

Ledecky handled the defeat with class, “It can’t get much better than that. It was tremendous racing, a lot of fun and I can’t be too disappointed with that. That was my second-best swim ever and I feel like I fought tooth and nail and that’s all you can ask for.”