Ariarne Titmus |
Ariarne Titmus is an Australian swimmer born on 7 September 2000 in Tasmania, moving to Queensland in 2015.
In 2021, she won gold for Australia at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, posting a time of 3:56.69 in the 400-metre freestyle final, edging out world record holder Katie Ledecky by less than a second in one of the most thrilling swimming races of all time.
Ariarne Titmus outduels Katie Ledecky
By Dave Sheinin | washingtonpost.com
Katie Ledecky has taken down legends, held off would-be challengers and ruthlessly lapped some of the top swimmers in the world during an Olympic career that has taken her from London to Rio de Janeiro and now to Tokyo. In rewriting the freestyle record book, she had taken on all comers, in four individual Olympic swims entering Monday, and left them all in her wake.
But Ledecky had never faced anything like the young woman who awaited in the lane to her right at Tokyo Aquatics Centre in the final of the women's 400-meter freestyle Monday morning. Ariarne Titmus wouldn't stop coming. She wouldn't wilt. She took the best Ledecky could give, and she passed her and beat her.
In the most anticipated four minutes of swimming in recent Olympic history, Ledecky vs. Titmus somehow lived up to the massive, transpacific hype. Titmus, the 20-year-old Australian sensation, caught Ledecky near the 300-meter mark and held off the defending champ's late charge in the final 25 meters, winning the gold medal in 3 minutes 56.69 seconds and becoming the first woman to beat Ledecky in an individual Olympic final.
Ledecky, 24, finished in 3:57.36, her best 400 free time since she set the world record of 3:56.46 at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics - the type of performance, frankly, many were questioning whether she still had in her - and it wasn't enough. She settled for the silver medal, with Li Bingjie of China (4:01.08) a distant bronze.
After touching the wall and checking the scoreboard, Ledecky moved in to congratulate Titmus, though the latter, overcome with emotion, barely could acknowledge the gesture.
Ledecky led Titmus at each of the first five walls, at one point opening a lead of nearly a full body length. Because Ledecky, from Lane 4, breathes almost exclusively to her right, she could see Titmus, in Lane 3, each trip down the pool. But she had no clear view of her on the way back, and Titmus began to close after the 250-meter mark, gaining half a second on that lap alone. By the final turn, she was ahead by 0.22 seconds.
❊ Web Links ❊
➼ Ariarne Titmus
➼ www.instagram.com/ariarnetitmus
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