Ariarne Titmus has cemented her dominance in the 400m freestyle, winning Australia’s first swimming gold at the Paris Olympics.
In the much-anticipated race, Titmus led for most of the race, touching the wall ahead of newcomer Canadian Summer McIntosh, followed by American great Katie Ledecky who took bronze.
Titmus became the first Australian woman to defend an Olympic title since Dawn Fraser in 1965. She joins a legendary group of three, including Fraser and Shirley Strickland, as the only Australian women to win back-to-back titles at the Olympics.
The win is Titmus’ third Olympic gold, following her 200m and 400m freestyle titles in Tokyo in 2021.
Speaking after the race, Titmus said she’s felt a “big monkey on her back” coming in to defend the title.
“I was really relaxed today, which was nice. I wanted to come out and have fun … I did my best, I will forever be back-to-back Olympian champion, which is really cool,” she said.
She also said she hoped to inspire others with the win.”
“I’m living out my dreams and having fun but hopefully important that it doesn’t matter where you come from … what, what religion.
Titmus clocked a time of 3:57.49m, which was 0.88 seconds ahead of McIntosh and 3.37 seconds ahead of Ledecky.
Titmus said she’ll try to calm down and get some sleep before returning tomorrow for the 200 metres.
Australia’s first medal of the Paris Olympics came thanks to Grace Brown overnight, in the women’s individual time trial in cycling.