Titmus v Ledecky v McIntosh looms as swimming’s latest mouthwatering rivalry

T wo years ago in Tokyo, the duel in the pool between Australian prodigy Ariarne Titmus and American legend Katie Ledecky was the most anticipated rivalry of the Olympics. Titmus narrowly came away with the upper hand: the Australian won the 200m and 400m freestyle gold medals, while Ledecky conquered the 800m freestyle (and the 1500m, which Titmus did not race). It was the rivalry that defined the Tokyo swim meet – and left fans salivating at the prospect of rematches on the road to the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Except when the pair meet again at the world championships in July, in Fukuoka, Japan, neither will be favourite.

In July 2021, when the starting beep went for the defining 400m event at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, 14-year-old Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh touched in front at the first turn. Her show of strength was mostly forgotten as Titmus and Ledecky powered ahead; afterwards, all eyes were on the Australian-American rivalry. But McIntosh finished fourth, a remarkable performance given her age. In the 21 months since, the Canadian has made meteoric progress.

And so on Wednesday night, as Titmus sought to defend her 400m freestyle title at the Australian championships on the Gold Coast, attention was directed more at the clock than the competing field. Titmus won easily, but her time – 4:00.49 – was a long way short of McIntosh’s new world record, 3:56.08. That time had been set just three weeks ago in Toronto, at the Canadian swimming trials, breaking Titmus’s world record of 3:56.40 from last year.

So much was perhaps to be expected. Titmus admitted earlier this week that she was not out for a statement swim. The 22-year-old is in the middle of a heavy training block and has not tapered for the national