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.
