Two years ago in Tokyo, the duel in the pool between Australian prodigy Ariarne Titmus and American legend Katie Ledecky was the most anticipated rivalry of the Olympics. Titmus narrowly came away with the upper hand: the Australian won the 200m and 400m freestyle gold medals, while Ledecky conquered the 800m freestyle (and the 1500m, which Titmus did not race). It was the rivalry that defined the Tokyo swim meet – and left fans salivating at the prospect of rematches on the road to the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Except when the pair meet again at the world championships in July, in Fukuoka, Japan, neither will be favourite.
In July 2021, when the starting beep went for the defining 400m event at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, 14-year-old Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh touched in front at the first turn. Her show of strength was mostly forgotten as Titmus and Ledecky powered ahead; afterwards, all eyes were on the Australian-American rivalry. But McIntosh finished fourth, a remarkable performance given her age. In the 21 months since, the Canadian has made meteoric progress.
And so on Wednesday night, as Titmus sought to defend her 400m freestyle title at the Australian championships on the Gold Coast, attention was directed more at the clock than the competing field. Titmus won easily, but her time – 4:00.49 – was a long way short of McIntosh’s new world record, 3:56.08. That time had been set just three weeks ago in Toronto, at the Canadian swimming trials, breaking Titmus’s world record of 3:56.40 from last year.
So much was perhaps to be expected. Titmus admitted earlier this week that she was not out for a statement swim. The 22-year-old is in the middle of a heavy training block and has not tapered for the national championships, instead building towards the trials in June which will select the Australian team for Fukuoka. Titmus had also been recovering from illness. “I’m just battling through,” she told Nine newspapers. “I don’t like to make excuses. We’re not at all targeting this meet.”
But Titmus’s slow time, more than four seconds off her best, only adds a degree of mystery to the three-way match-up in Fukuoka. The Australian also skipped last year’s world championships, to focus on the Commonwealth Games, allowing Ledecky to regain her 400m freestyle title. Fukuoka will therefore be the first time the duo has faced off since Tokyo, and only the second time Titmus and McIntosh have been in the same pool (the Australian beat the Canadian at the Commonwealth Games).
Whether intentional or not, the shadow-boxing sets up a scintillating encounter in Japan and then, in 12 months’ time, the main event in Paris. Titmus made clear that she was all in on the Olympics, citing it as the reason she skipped last year’s world titles. The reigning Olympic champion is playing the long game – but faces stiff competition.
Titmus v Ledecky v McIntosh is a swimming rivalry to savour. Comparisons have been made to the “race of the century” at the 2004 Olympics, when Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Michael Phelps and Pieter van den Hoogenband faced off in the men’s 200m freestyle. The women’s 400m freestyle is sure to be the Paris equivalent.
And the forthcoming Games might not even be the last time the trio race for Olympic gold. Despite being the elder stateswoman of female swimming, Ledecky is just 26. All three have time on their side. But the rise of McIntosh has made one thing clear: if Titmus thought she was the undisputed queen of the pool after dethroning Ledecky in Tokyo, a certain Canadian has other plans.
Elsewhere at the national championships this week, there has been plenty of promise as the Australian swimming team lay the ground work to repeat their record-breaking success in Tokyo. Nineteen-year-old Mollie O’Callaghan set the fastest time in the world this year in the women’s 100m freestyle, while teenager Sam Short bettered the best time of Australian great Grant Hackett in the men’s 400m freestyle – and also took out the 800m and 1500m titles.
Another of Australia’s Tokyo stars, three-time gold medallist Kaylee McKeown, has underscored her Paris credentials this week. Having won the 100m backstroke title on Tuesday, McKeown proceeded to win a surprise 200m breaststroke title on Wednesday – leaving the more-established breaststroke specialists in her wake. McKeown’s versatility bodes well for her medley prospects at the world championships and the Olympics; she dropped out of the 200m individual medley on the eve of the Tokyo Games to avoid overloading her program, but with the benefit of experience might return to the fold next year.
With the trials and then the world championships only months away, the national titles this week were perhaps never going to feature lightning quick times. But there has been more than enough promise in the pool to suggest the Dolphins are swimming well with barely a year left until the 2024 Olympics.
