Paris 2024: ‘Terminator’ Titmus defends 400m Olympic freestyle title

Ariarne Titmus knocked off the USA’s Katie Ledecky again at the Olympics, defending her 400-metre freestyle title in one of the most highly anticipated races of the Paris Games.
Titmus, the Australian star known as “The Terminator,” prevailed in an event the American won at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, handing Ledecky a second straight defeat in the event.
With her fingernails painted Aussie yellow, Titmus led from start to finish. The 23-year-old faced her stiffest challenge from Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh but won comfortably in three minutes and 57.49 seconds.
“I probably felt the expectation and pressure for this race more than anything in my life, to be honest, and I’m pretty good at handling the pressure but I’ve definitely felt it,” Titmus said.
“I’m just happy to get the result for myself and I feel so honoured to be a part of the race and be alongside legends like Katie.
“I look up to her so much as an athlete and there’s certainly not a rivalry beyond the races. I really respect her as a person,” Titmus added.
Canada’s 17-year-old McIntosh claimed the silver in 3:58.37, while American Ledecky was left in her wake and got the bronze in 4:00.86.
Ledecky remains at six individual gold medals in her brilliant career – still the most of any female swimmer in Olympic history.
Titmus now has three individual Olympic victories on her growing resume. She swept the 200 and 400 free in Tokyo and is favoured to pull off the same double in Paris.
Ledecky is not done yet. She skipped a chance to face Titmus again in the 200 free, but the American is favoured to take gold in both the 800 and 1,500-metre events.
Lukas Maertens of Germany became the first swimming champion at the Paris Olympics after he won his first Olympic gold in the men’s 400-metre freestyle, which was held shortly before the women’s event.
Emerging triumphant from a final stacked with world champions, Maertens touched the wall in three minutes and 41.78 seconds to finish ahead of Australian silver medallist Elijah Winnington and South Korean bronze-winner Kim Woo-min at La Defense Arena.
Maertens, 22, came into the race with the fastest time this year and duly converted on the biggest stage to become the first German winner in the event since Uwe Dassler took the title for East Germany at the 1988 Seoul Games.
The German raced at world record pace until the final 50 metres, and that proved enough despite a fast finish by Winnington, who claimed his second Olympic medal.
Australia made it two-for-two against the rivals from the US in the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay, claiming their fourth straight Olympic title in that 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 Americans — Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel — rallied to take silver in 3:30.20. They edged China’s team of Yang Junxuan, Cheng Yujie, Zhang Yufei and Wu Qingfeng by a tenth of a second.
A US team spearheaded by Caeleb Dressel stormed to the men’s 4×100-metre Olympic relay gold medal.
The quartet of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Dressel came home in three minutes and 9.28 seconds with Australia taking silver in 3:10.35 and Italy bronze in 3:10.70.
But the US had their work cut after the opening leg with Chinese 100-metre world record holder Pan Zhanle putting in a scorching two laps.
The dominant Americans hauled themselves back into contention with Dressel powering them to the finish line.
Kyle Chalmers put in a cracking final leg to hand Australia silver, with his 46.59 the fastest split of any swimmer.
The US has long dominated the event, winning 10 of the 14 times it has been on the Olympic programme before Paris. They only missed top spot in 2000 (Australia), 2004 (South Africa) and 2012 (France), and as a result of the boycott in 1980.