Paris Olympics, Day 1 Prelims: As Next Version of Race of the Century Looms, Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus Pace 400 Freestyle

Paris Olympics, Day 1 Prelims: As Next Version of Race of the Century Looms, Katie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus Pace 400 Freestyle

Version 2.0 of the Race of the Century started to take shape on Saturday morning, as the preliminaries of the women’s 400-meter freestyle set the stage for an epic final at the Olympic Games in Paris.

For months (years, even), anticipation has built over the impending clash over eight laps of freestyle between a trio of current or former world-record holders. It’s an event that features as rich a storyline as will be found during the nine days of competition at La Defense Arena:

In Australian Ariarne Titmus, there is the defending Olympic champion, world-record holder and consensus favorite.
Katie Ledecky offers her status as the greatest female swimmer in history, a former world-record holder in the event and the 2016 Olympic titlist.
Canadian 17-year-old Summer McIntosh is the upstart in the field, a former world-record holder in the 400 freestyle who is attacking a four-event individual program.

So, it was fitting that the third of the three morning heats featured a down-to-the-wire finish between Titmus and Ledecky, with the American narrowly grabbing the top seed for the final. Trailing Titmus for the first 300 meters, Ledecky pulled into a tie with her rival at the last turn, and pulled slightly ahead down the last length to win the heat in 4:02.19. Titmus followed closely in 4:02.46, and both women clearly have much more to deliver when it matters most.

World Record: Ariarne Titmus, AUS – 3:55.38 (2023)
Olympic Record: Katie Ledecky, USA – 3:56.46 (2016)
Tokyo Olympic Champion: Ariarne Titmus, AUS – 3:56.69

Titmus arrived in Paris riding a wave of momentum built at the Australian Trials in June. A world record in the 200 freestyle highlighted action in Brisbane, where Titmus also narrowly missed her global standard (3:55.38) in the 400 freestyle behind a mark of 3:55.44. In her opening swim in the French capital, Titmus commanded the race early before easing off the pace to conserve energy.

After the race, Ledecky indicated that she had no message, nor no insistence on being the top seed at the start of a busy week in which she will be the favorite in the 800 and 1500-meter races: “Just trying to have a good swim and get into the final,” Ledecky said. “I got my lane. We all got our lane. Tonight’s what matters.”

Titmus shared a similar reaction to her first race of the Paris Games: just make it back and prepare to race when medals are on the line. In the final, Titmus will attempt to become only the second-ever Australian woman to win back-to-back individual swimming gold medals in one race. Only Dawn Fraser, the champion in the 100 free in 1956, 1960 and 1964, has accomplished the feat.

“I set up the first 100, see how I felt and tried to just race the rest of the race judging with where the field was. Crazy that the crowd’s so loud for a heats session. I think everyone’s excited to be back at an Olympics, but I got myself a middle lane, so I’m excited for tonight,” she said. “I don’t try to look too much into heat swims. She’s got lane four. I’ve got lane five. It doesn’t really matter now. It’s all about who can do it tonight.”

New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather will attempt to play the spoiler role in the final, as she moved through her morning swim in 4:02.55, which was good for the No. 3 slot at night. Fairweather is the reigning world champion from earlier this year in Doha, where the Big Three were absent to focus on their Olympic preparation. Yet, Fairweather clocked 3:59.44 en route to that crown, and she has produced an upset in the past. At the 2023 World Champs, where Titmus and Ledecky captured gold and silver, Fairweather edged McIntosh for the bronze medal.

“I knew I had to be fast this morning to put myself in a good position for the final, so I’m really excited to see what tonight brings,” Fairweather said. “The crowd was absolutely deafening as we walked behind the blocks. It was real special. My family was sitting there where I could see them in eyeline when I was walking out, so knowing they were there was really cool.”

Fairweather was the unknown and unexpected factor prior to last year’s World Championships when she did knock McIntosh from the podium, but the Big Three in this event will be expecting another impressive swim from the talented Kiwi this time: “The women’s 400 free field has been on the rise for a couple years now,” Fairweather said. “In Tokyo, I was an inexperienced rookie, and going in now, I have a lot more experience. I have a bit more age behind me, and I’m really excited about it.”

As for the Canadian youngster, she looked comfortable on the way to the fourth-fastest mark of prelims, an effort of 4:02.65. She was followed in the top eight by Australian Jamie Perkins (4:03.30), American Paige Madden (4:03.34), Brazil’s Maria Fernanda Costa (4:03.47) and Germany’s Isabel Gose (4:03.83).

The first major casualty of the Games was China’s Li Bingjie, who finished ninth in 4:03.96. Li was the bronze medalist in the 400 free at the Tokyo Games and has twice reached the podium in the event at the World Championships.

The original Race of the Century materialized at the 2004 Games in Athens, where the established tandem of Ian Thorpe and Pieter van den Hoogenband were joined by Michael Phelps in the 200 freestyle. Ultimately, Thorpe secured the gold medal, with van den Hoogenband and Phelps earning silver and bronze.

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