In one of the most anticipated events of the Summer Games, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, nicknamed “the Terminator” by some in her country, chased down and defeated American superstar Katie Ledecky to win the gold medal with the second-fastest time in history on Monday.
Katie Ledecky Feels The Sting of a First Olympic Loss
Titmus, who was behind by a full body length with four laps to go, cranked it up and crossed the finish line in 3 minutes, 56.69 seconds.
Ledecky had just won the Olympic title and held the world record. With a time of 3:57.36, the fourth-fastest ever recorded, she had to settle for silver this time.
I battled with everything I had,” Ledecky said. She swam the race with great strategy. She appeared really composed at first. When I flipped at the 300, I thought, “Oh, she’s right there.” I felt quite powerful and supple before going out.
A third of the way through the 400-meter freestyle on Monday morning at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, Katie Ledecky saw the moment she had been waiting for, though she didn’t expect it to arrive quite so soon.
World record holder and defending champion Katie Ledecky led Australian Ariarne Titmus, who had been faster than Ledecky all year, after 300 metres. Ledecky had swung and missed, hoping to put Titmus in an awkward position where she could start to second-guess herself.
It was the kind of strategy swimmers employ when they realise they may not have as much as their nearest rival. According to Titmus, she started to get nervous when she realised Ledecky was a half-second and nearly a body length ahead of her at the halfway point of the race.
Off the bend 100 metres later, though, they were neck-and-neck, and it came as little surprise when Titmus eventually drew ahead to win in 3 minutes, 56 seconds, beating Ledecky by 0.1 second. Still, it was unexpected to see Ledecky lose at a distance she had been counted on to dominate for the whole of her career.
Last Words
Katie Ledecky finished in an unlikely second place, while Caeleb Dressel began his quest for six swimming gold medals. Thanks for reading our article Katie Ledecky Feels The Sting of a First Olympic Loss.
