Katie Ledecky tasted defeat for the first time in an individual Olympic competition on Monday, losing to 20-year-old Australian Ariarne Titmus in a thrilling 400-m freestyle final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre. Caeleb Dressel, on the other hand, opened his gold medal account in the Tokyo Olympics after producing a stunning anchor leg in Team USA's win in the men's 4x100-m freestyle relay.
Titmus needed to be at her best to beat Ledecky, and she did just that, finishing the race in 3:56.69, the second-fastest swim of all time in this particular event. Titmus needed every bit of that fast pace as she defeated Ledecky, the Rio 2016 gold medalist and world record holder for this event, by just 0.67 seconds. Ledecky's time was the fourth-fastest ever posted in history.
Titmus outlasts Ledecky in epic 400-m showdown
Ledecky looked set for another gold medal win as she led the majority of the 400-m race. The 24-year-old Washington D.C. native still had the slight advantage heading into the final 100 meters, but Titmus had the stronger finishing kick. She managed to pull ahead at the turn for the final length of the pool and closed well in the last 25 meters to hold off Ledecky's late charge.
It was an emotional win for Titmus, who has now defeated Ledecky at consecutive major events. She stunned the swimming world back in 2019 when the Australian grabbed a victory over Ledecky in the World Championships. After the marquee race, Titmus paid tribute to Ledecky, telling the American swimmer that "I couldn't have done it without you."
Ledecky showed no signs of disappointment after her silver-medal finish, saying, "I can't be disappointed with that, it was a great time for me." Indeed, it was a fantastic time for Ledecky, who swam the 400-m race in just 3:57.36. She had not broken 3:59 in any of her 400-m races since 2018. Ledecky managed to beat that time by over a second and a half.
Titmus and Ledecky will renew their rivalry in the 200-m freestyle, with the Australian the favorite to prevail in that event. Ledecky will also compete in the 800-m and 1500-m freestyle events, where she remains the prohibitive favorite.
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Dressel powers Team USA to gold medal win in 4x100-m relay
Caeleb Dressel made sure Team USA won't leave the morning session without a gold medal as he led the Americans to a comprehensive win at the 4x100-m freestyle relay. He sprinted the United States out to a significant lead in the opening leg with a 100 faster than the individual world record.
Blake Pieroni briefly lost the lead in the second leg but managed to recover to put Team USA first at the midway point of the race. Bowen Becker consolidated that lead over the third 100 before Zach Apple took over in the final leg. He outraced Italy's Manuel Frigo to the wall in the last 100 to give Team USA its first relay gold medal of this year's Olympics.
The United States finished with a time of 3:08.97, the third-fastest 4x100 relay in history. The Italians came in second and bagged the silver medal while the Australians finished in third place.
Dressel will look to add more gold medals to his tally in the coming days. He will be competing in the men's 100-m freestyle, men's 100-m butterfly, and men's 50-m freestyle.
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