Titmus Is The First To Keep The Crown Since 1928
Ariarne Titmus became the first woman to retain the 400m freestyle crown since American Martha Norelius kept the title in 1928 in a World record four years after setting an Olympic standard for her first triumph
The trouble with excellence is that it leaves you craving more, so much so that a race with Ariarne Titmus, Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky but without a World record, especially one daftly dubbed 'race of the century' just 20 years after the last one and with 76 to go is perceived to have fallen shy of its blown-up billing.
Is it the pool (maybe), is it the pressure of the moment (a touch), is it the need for speed back home just to get to the fight (perhaps)? ... and one and on.
When the list is done, we come to what it's all about: racing. And what a race it was. No, not the race of the century; not the fastest gold or silver either ... but one of those responsible for that pioneering, Ledecky, ensured that the Paris women's 400m final delivered what the men's battle just had in the showdown before: the swiftest Olympic podium in history.
Titmus kept the title in 3:57.49, McIntosh taking silver in 3:58.37, while in 4:00.86, American living legend Ledecky, who is aiming to swim ion to a home Games in LA2028, hauled the first bronze of Olympic campaigns that have amassed seven golds and three silvers so far.
