It was billed as the race of the century, a clash between three world record-holders and future hall of famers. But on this boisterous night in Paris, hype and reality never quite brushed cheeks. Once again the Australian they call the Terminator was left standing at the end, the immortal and the indestructible, as she defended her Olympic 400m freestyle title.
The first thing Ariarne Titmus did after her victory was to hug the brilliant 17-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh, who always threatened but never quite delivered. Then it was the turn of the American Katie Ledecky, by common consent the greatest female swimmer of them all. There was respect there. Appreciation, too. But they knew Titmus had been too good again.
