The Olympic swimming program kicks off tonight with a massive rivalry race in the women’s 400-meter freestyle.
Katie Ledecky, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus and Canada’s Summer McIntosh are the chief contenders. Ledecky remains the standard-bearer in the long-distance freestyle races, but Titmus and McIntosh have caught up to her in the middle-distance events. Titmus is the defending Olympic gold medal winner in the 400-meter freestyle, edging out Ledecky in Tokyo, and she also beat Ledecky at the 2023 world championships. McIntosh briefly held the world record in the 400 last year before Titmus beat it with that world championship final swim. The four-minute mark has been cracked 52 times in the history of the women’s 400-meter freestyle in a long-course pool (50 meters); this trio has combined for 49 of those swims, including the 27 fastest.
And then there’s New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather, the 20-year-old who won bronze behind Titmus and Ledecky in Tokyo and the owner of two of those three sub-four-minute swims that don’t belong to Ledecky, Titmus or McIntosh. Fairweather set her personal best earlier this year at the 2024 worlds and is inching closer to their lofty territory.
They should all be there in the 400-meter freestyle final tonight in what might be the most compelling race of the week. Titmus and Ledecky will also likely face each other in the 800-meter freestyle final next Saturday.
Pictured above, left to right: Ledecky, Titmus Fairweather
