July 26, 2021, 3:41 a.m. ET
Matthew Futterman
Star swimmer Katie Ledecky feels the sting of a first Olympic loss.
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TOKYO — The moment Katie Ledecky knew would eventually come, though maybe not this soon, happened three-quarters of the way through the 400-meter freestyle Monday morning at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.
For 300 meters Ledecky, the world-record holder and defending gold medalist, led Ariarne Titmus of Australia, who had been faster than Ledecky at this distance all year. Ledecky had gone out fast, trying to put Titmus in a hole and maybe make her doubt herself.
It’s what a swimmer does when she knows she might not have as much as the competitor next to her, and it nearly worked. Titmus said that halfway through the race she saw Ledecky a half-second and nearly a body in front of her and started to worry.
But then, 100 meters later off the turn, they were nearly even and, to nobody’s surprise, Titmus pulled ahead to win in a time of 3:56.69 to Ledecky’s 3:57.36. Yet it was still shocking to see Ledecky come up short at a distance that, not long ago, she had been anticipated to own through her career.
At the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016, Ledecky won the 400 free by nearly five seconds. And yet, now, there was Titmus churning past her.
“Surreal,” Titmus said, still breathing heavily several minutes after the triumph. “It’s the biggest thing you can do in your sporting career.”
It was one of the most anticipated showdowns of the Tokyo Games. It seemed Titmus’s race to lose based on her superior times recently, but Ledecky had never lost an individual race at the Olympics, a run that stretched to her surprise win as a 15-year-old nine years ago in London.
The American men, meanwhile, delivered a statement in winning the 4x100-meter freestyle relay, even without Phelps to carry them. The Americans led wire to wire and put up the third-fastest relay time in history. Caeleb Dressel gave the U.S. the early lead, and Blake Pieroni kept it through the halfway mark. Then it was Bowen Becker’s turn. He turned over a half-body length lead to Zach Apple, who took the Americans home.
“My job is easy when I have these three guys leading me out,” Apple said with the gold medal draped around his neck.
But the United States could not reach the podium in the day’s two other finals. Margaret MacNeil of Canada won the 100-meter butterfly, with Torri Huske, the 18-year-old Virginian, coming in fourth. In the 100-meter breaststroke, Adam Peaty of Britain defended his title, with Michael Andrew coming in fourth.
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July 26, 2021, 2:45 a.m. ET
Larry Buchanan and Joe Ward
How Katie Ledecky’s lead evaporated in the 400-meter freestyle final.
TOKYO — Ariarne Titmus of Australia, not Katie Ledecky of the United States, won the women’s 400-meter freestyle gold. Ledecky, 24, came in as the defending Olympic champion and world-record holder. But Titmus, 20, swam a faster 400 in Australia’s Olympic trials than Ledecky did in hers. In the final on Monday, Titmus reeled in Ledecky after the American had built a lead of more than a body length. Here is how the race unfolded.
First 100 METERS
Ledecky finished the first 100 meters in 57.67 seconds, good for the lead over Titmus’s 57.74.
1
Lap
Titmus
Ledecky
Titmus
2
Ledecky
second 100 meters
Ledecky began to extend her lead in the race’s second 100 meters. At the 200-meter mark, Ledecky was ahead of Titmus by 0.66 seconds.
Titmus
3
Ledecky
Titmus
4
Ledecky
third 100 meters
On the first 50 meters of this segment, Ledecky built a lead of an entire body length over Titmus. But it all changed on the second 50, when Titmus cut that lead in half.
Titmus
5
Ledecky
Titmus
6
Ledecky
fourth 100 meters
Ledecky held on to her slim lead through the first 50, but by the final turn, Titmus had caught her and they battled stroke for stroke in the final 50 meters. In the end, Titmus dethroned Ledecky, by 0.67 seconds.
Titmus
7
Ledecky
Titmus
8
Ledecky
First 100 meters
Ledecky finished the first 100 meters in 57.67 seconds, good for the lead over Titmus’s 57.74.
1
Lap
Titmus
Ledecky
Titmus
2
Ledecky
second 100 meters
Ledecky began to extend her lead in the race’s second 100 meters. At the 200-meter mark, Ledecky was ahead of Titmus by 0.66 seconds.
Titmus
3
Ledecky
Titmus
4
Ledecky
third 100 meters
On the first 50 meters of this segment, Ledecky built a lead of an entire body length over Titmus. But it all changed on the second 50, when Titmus cut that lead in half.
Titmus
5
Ledecky
Titmus
6
Ledecky
fourth 100 meters
Ledecky held on to her slim lead through the first 50, but by the final turn, Titmus had caught her and they battled stroke for stroke in the final 50 meters. In the end, Titmus dethroned Ledecky, by 0.67 seconds.
Titmus
7
Ledecky
Titmus
8
Ledecky
First 100 meters
Ledecky finished the first 100 meters in 57.67 seconds, good for the lead over Titmus’s 57.74.
1
Lap
Titmus
Ledecky
Titmus
2
Ledecky
second 100 meters
Ledecky began to extend her lead in the race’s second 100 meters. At the 200-meter mark, Ledecky was ahead of Titmus by 0.66.
Titmus
3
Ledecky
Titmus
4
Ledecky
third 100 meters
On the first 50 meters of this segment, Ledecky built a lead of an entire body length over Titmus. But it all changed on the second 50, when Titmus cut that lead in half.
Titmus
5
Ledecky
Titmus
6
Ledecky
fourth 100 meters
Ledecky held on to her slim lead through the first 50, but by the final turn, Titmus had caught her and they battled stroke for stroke in the final 50 meters. In the end, Titmus dethroned Ledecky, by 0.67 seconds.
Titmus
7
Ledecky
Titmus
8
Ledecky
By Joe Ward and Larry Buchanan
July 25, 2021, 11:55 p.m. ET
Doug Mills
reporting from Tokyo
Is Caeleb Dressel pulling a Tom Brady here?
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July 25, 2021, 11:43 p.m. ET
Talya Minsberg
Ariarne Titmus won. So did Coach Dean Boxall’s celebration.
Ariarne Titmus of Australia took the lead from Katie Ledecky of the United States in the final 100 meters of the 400-meter freestyle race. The next sentence would usually read something like “and the crowd went wild.”
In this case, Titmus’s coach, Dean Boxall, went wild. He pumped his arms. He screamed. He thrusted. A volunteer over his left shoulder looked concerned that he might fall.
when the preworkout kicks in #TokyoOlympics pic.twitter.com/xkU7zyF0gG
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 26, 2021
Celebrations here at the Tokyo Games have been a bit subdued because of the lack of fans in the stands. Today, Boxall brought the right amount of energy.
We’ll have what he’s having.
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July 25, 2021, 11:13 p.m. ET
Matthew Futterman
Caeleb Dressel leads the U.S. to victory in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay.
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The United States prevailed in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay Monday, topping Italy with the third fastest relay in history.
Men’s 4x100-Meter Freestyle Relay
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The Americans put up a statement race leading from wire-to-wire. Caeleb Dressel gave the U.S. the early lead and Blake Pieroni kept it through the halfway mark. Bowen Becker turned over a half-body length lead to Zach Apple who took the Americans home.
The men from Russia had been expected to give the U.S. men their toughest competition but failed to make the podium. Australia won the bronze medal.
Men’s 4×100m Freestyle Relay Final | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
100m | 200m | 300m | 400m | Total | |
Gold United States | 47.26 | 47.58 | 47.44 | 46.69 | 3:08.97 |
Silver Italy | 47.72 | 47.45 | 47.31 | 47.62 | 3:10.11 |
Bronze Australia | 48.07 | 47.55 | 48.16 | 46.44 | 3:10.22 |
4 Canada | 47.98 | 47.51 | 47.15 | 48.17 | 3:10.82 |
5 Hungary | 48.24 | 47.44 | 47.81 | 47.57 | 3:11.06 |
6 France | 47.51 | 47.62 | 48.01 | 47.94 | 3:11.09 |
7 Russian Olympic Committee | 47.71 | 47.94 | 48.15 | 48.40 | 3:12.20 |
8 Brazil | 48.69 | 48.23 | 48.76 | 47.72 | 3:13.41 |
July 25, 2021, 10:53 p.m. ET
Doug Mills
reporting from Tokyo
Ledecky after the 400-meter freestyle final. She had won it at the 2016 Games and still holds the world record.
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July 25, 2021, 10:49 p.m. ET
Doug Mills
reporting from Tokyo
Ledecky had been leading Titmus through 300 meters.
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July 25, 2021, 10:27 p.m. ET
Matthew Futterman
Ariarne Titmus defeats Katie Ledecky in the 400-meter freestyle.
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In one of the most anticipated showdowns of the Tokyo Games, Ariarne Titmus of Australia defeated Katie Ledecky of the United States in the 400-meter freestyle, beating the reigning champion by two-thirds of a second.
“Surreal,” Titmus said, still breathing heavily several minutes after the triumph. “It’s the biggest thing you can do in your sporting career.”
Women’s 400-Meter Freestyle
Length 0 of 8
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Ledecky, the world-record holder in the event, came in as something of an underdog. Titmus beat her at the world championships two years ago, when Ledecky was sick. And she’s been faster than Ledecky at the distance this year.
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Titmus is the only swimmer to beat Ledecky in a distance race at a major meet and had put a target on her rival’s back, saying at Australia’s Olympic trials that the U.S. champion wouldn’t have things “all her way” in Tokyo.
“I fought her tooth and nail,” Ledecky said, doing what she almost never does: explain a loss. “She swam a smart race.”
Titmus backed up the talk in the pool on Monday morning, overpowering Ledecky down the stretch in one of her signature events.
Ledecky went out fast, building a lead of nearly a full body length through the first half of the race. Then she flipped at the 300-meter mark and realized that Titmus had nearly pulled even. Coming off the last turn, Titmus inched into the lead, and Ledecky had the fight of her Olympic swimming life on her hands. She churned as hard as she could in the final 15 meters, but Titmus had just a little bit more.
Ledecky has long been considered nearly untouchable at any distance of more than 200 meters.
But swimming is the ultimate sport of one-upsmanship: One swimmer sets a seemingly unmatchable standard, only to see a new collection of competitors match it far sooner than anyone anticipated.
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That is what has happened with Titmus, a 20-year-old Tasmanian, who has come on like a force of nature in the last three years, testing Ledecky’s fierceness as a competitor as it rarely has been before. On Monday, that fierceness was on full display as Ledecky put up a fight, but Titmus had just enough to outlast her in the final meters.
“I wouldn’t be here without her,” Titmus said of Ledecky when it was over. “She set an amazing standard.”
Ledecky is also competing in freestyle races at 200, 800 and 1500 meters at the Games, but Monday is a day at the office unlike anything she has experienced. With preliminary heats in the 1,500 and the 200 meters scheduled for Monday evening, there was little time for sulking about second place.
“I was right there,” she said.
Swimming: Women’s 400m Freestyle Final | Time | |
|---|---|---|
Gold | Ariarne Titmus Australia | 3:56.69 |
Silver | Katie Ledecky United States | 3:57.36 |
Bronze | Li Bingjie China | 4:01.08 |
| 4 | Summer McIntosh Canada | 4:02.42 |
| 5 | Tang Muhan China | 4:04.10 |
| 6 | Isabel Gose Germany | 4:04.98 |
| 7 | Paige Madden United States | 4:06.81 |
| 8 | Erika Fairweather | 4:08.01 |
July 25, 2021, 10:16 p.m. ET
Matthew Futterman
Adam Peaty of Britain maintains his ownership of the 100-meter breaststroke.
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Adam Peaty of Britain is one of the handful of athletes at the Tokyo Games who was showing up here to pick up his gold medal.
Men’s 100-Meter Breaststroke
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Peaty, the world-record holder in the 100-meter breaststroke, has long been racing largely against himself, and he showed why once again Monday morning, winning the race in 57.37.
Peaty was the first swimmer to go under 58 seconds at the distance, and then the first one to go under 57 seconds.
He has set an as-yet unmatchable standard in the event. Peaty, who won the gold medal in the event in 2016, became the first British swimmer to defend his Olympic title.
The race was essentially a contest for second place. Peaty won by more than a half-second. Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands took the silver medal in 58 seconds flat and Nicola Martinenghi of Italy took the bronze medal in 58.33. Michael Andrew of the United States finished fourth.
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July 25, 2021, 10:11 p.m. ET
Doug Mills
reporting from Tokyo
Lydia Jacoby of the United States had the best time in her semifinal for the 100-meter breaststroke.
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July 25, 2021, 10:10 p.m. ET
Doug Mills
reporting from Tokyo
Kieran Smith of the United States in the men’s 200-meter freestyle semifinal.
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July 25, 2021, 9:54 p.m. ET
Doug Mills
reporting from Tokyo
Eighteen-year-old Torri Huske of the United States missed a bronze medal by one hundredth of a second in the women’s 100-meter butterfly.
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July 25, 2021, 9:34 p.m. ET
Matthew Futterman
Maggie MacNeil of Canada wins the women’s 100-meter butterfly.
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Margaret MacNeil of Canada won the 100-meter butterfly in an upset, swimming 55.59 to beat Yufei Zhang of China and Emma McKeon of Australia.
Women’s 100-Meter Butterfly
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Torri Huske, the 18-year-old American, just missed keeping the U.S. swimming youth movement on a roll, missing out on a bronze medal by one hundredth of a second.
Huske was in the lead group of swimmers at the turn but fell off the pace in the final quarter of the race as MacNeil pressed from lane 7 and touched first for the surprise win. It was MacNeil’s first individual Olympic medal and her second of the Tokyo Games. She helped Canada win the silver medal in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay on Sunday.
Zhang, the top-ranked swimmer in the event, finished in 55.64, and McKeon finished in 55.72.
Swimming: Women’s 100m Butterfly Final | Time | |
|---|---|---|
Gold | Margaret MacNeil Canada | 55.59 |
Silver | Zhang Yufei China | 55.64 |
Bronze | Emma McKeon Australia | 55.72 |
| 4 | Torri Huske United States | 55.73 |
| 5 | Louise Hansson Sweden | 56.22 |
| 6 | Marie Wattel France | 56.27 |
| 7 | Sarah Sjoestroem Sweden | 56.91 |
| 8 | Anastasiya Shkurdai Belarus | 57.05 |
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July 25, 2021, 9:19 p.m. ET
Matthew Futterman
Here’s what to watch for today in swimming.
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The Olympic showdown that swimming fans have been waiting for has finally arrived.
The marquee race of the day at the Olympic Aquatic Center has Katie Ledecky of the United States facing off against Ariarne Titmus of Australia in the 400-meter freestyle. Ledecky is the defending champion, and has seemed untouchable at a distance beyond 200 meters for years. But Titmus knocked her off two years ago at the world championships. Ledecky was sick at the time, but Titmus has been faster than Ledecky at the distance of late, and today’s race could foretell just how invincible — or not — Ledecky might be in the coming years.
Also in the pool today is Adam Peaty of Britain, the fastest breaststroker of all time, who will attempt to break his own world record in the 100 meters. The real race in that event will probably be for second place. The 100-meter breaststroke is an odd competition — a sprint in the slowest swimming discipline. It’s basically a contest to see who can swim slow the fastest.
The women’s 100-meter butterfly final, the first medal competition on the schedule, will be another test of the American swimming youth movement. Torri Huske is just 18, and she’s already scaring the world record. She will have plenty of competition, notably from Zhang Yufei of China and Emma McKeon of Australia, but Huske should be right there at the end, and for a good many years to come.
The day concludes with the men’s 4x100-meter freestyle race, which is often a battle between the United States and Australia. But the Americans, who will be led by Caeleb Dressel, no longer have Michael Phelps to lean on, and the team from Russia may be the most formidable foe this time around. And who doesn’t love an old-fashioned U.S.-Russia rivalry?
July 25, 2021, 9:00 p.m. ET
Matthew Futterman
Katie Ledecky may finally have a true challenger.
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Follow our latest coverage of Olympic Swimming.
The U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky’s domination is so routine that her surname has become a verb, synonymous with crushing the competition. For nearly a decade, she has ledeckied away in her specialties — distance swims longer than 400 meters — rarely facing a true challenger and certainly nothing resembling a rival.
Now she has one.
Ariarne Titmus of Australia, a fearless Tasmanian who talks big and has the speed in the pool to back it up, is about to ask Ledecky the one question she has never had to answer in her two previous Olympic appearances: How will she respond to a swimmer who has placed a target on her back and taken dead aim at it?
“I’m sure she is going to be fast, and I’m sure she thinks the same of me,” Ledecky, 24, said of Titmus in a pre-Olympic news conference this month.
How fast is Titmus? Lately, when it has counted most, she has been a good bit faster than Ledecky at both 200 and 400 meters, races that Ledecky swept four years ago.
At Australia’s Olympic trials last month, Titmus, 20, missed breaking Ledecky’s world record of 3:56.46 in the 400 by just half a second. At the U.S. trials, also in June, Ledecky swam the distance in 4:01.27.
In the 200, Titmus came within 0.11 of a second of the record, which was set in 2009, when swimmers wore sleek suits that reduced drag, which are now banned. Ledecky swam the 200 freestyle at the U.S. trials in 1:55.11, more than two seconds behind the world record.
Aside from her times, Titmus’s comments after the trials rocketed across the swimming world.
“She’s not going to have it all her own way,” Titmus said of Ledecky after her 400 race.
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July 25, 2021, 8:55 p.m. ET
Andrew Keh
What happened in the pool yesterday: Americans collected six medals.
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TOKYO — After an opening day without a medal, the United States swim team got two in the first event of the day on Sunday. By lunchtime, Americans had collected a half-dozen at the pool.
Chase Kalisz, 27, won the first — the first gold medal of the Games for the United States — in the men’s 400-meter individual medley, pulling away from the pack just after the halfway mark and cruising to victory in 4 minutes 9.42 seconds.
As Kalisz, who won silver in the event in 2016, exited the pool, he sprawled onto his back and held his head in his hands for several seconds.
“This is my lifelong dream,” Kalisz said. “I’ve accomplished everything else in the sport — world titles, N.C.A.A. titles, an American record — and this was the last thing I wanted to check off.”
Kalisz’s teammate Jay Litherland, 25, an American born in Osaka, Japan, won the silver, giving the Americans their first top-two finish in the event since Michael Phelps and Erik Vendt did it in 2004 in Athens.
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But that was just the start. Kieran Smith soon added a bronze in the 400-meter freestyle, and Emma Weyant (silver) and Hali Flickinger (bronze) followed him onto the medals stand after finishing behind Yui Ohashi in the women’s 400-meter individual medley.
Ohashi’s medal, delivered with a brilliant breaststroke leg, was Japan’s first swimming gold. She walked away from the pool wiping away tears of joy.
The United States added a sixth medal — a bronze in the 4x100-meter freestyle relay — with the help of a surprise substitute, Simone Manuel.
Manuel was making her first appearance at the Games, and much earlier than some had expected. She did not swim in the relay semifinals on Saturday and will not swim again until the individual 50-meter freestyle next weekend.
But after the United States finished a disappointing fifth in qualifying, Manuel, who had won gold in the relay and the 100 freestyle at the 2016 Rio Games, was drafted in to strengthen the team.
Australia, the heavy favorite, won gold with a time of 3:29.69, and Canada took the silver. The Americans finished in 3:32.81 when Manuel was beaten to the wall by Canada’s Penny Oleksiak.
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Questions had swirled about whether Manuel would swim in the event at all after she failed to qualify in the 100 free at the U.S. selection meet in June.
Her stunned expression after winning gold in the individual event at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio remains a lasting image from those Games. With that victory, Manuel became the first Black woman to win an individual Olympic swimming event.
But her failure to qualify in the individual event for Tokyo had been a shock, given that Manuel is the American record-holder in the event. Afterward, she revealed that she had been diagnosed with overtraining syndrome earlier in the year. Along with extreme fatigue, she had been experiencing depression and insomnia and had been required to step back from her normal, intense training routine.
“Even though the last couple of months haven’t been the greatest for me, I’ve trained really hard the past four and a half, five years, and eventually that hard work will show up,” said Manuel, who heard on Saturday night that she would be on the relay team. “I just have to keep trusting myself.”
Ahmed Hafnaoui, 18, of Tunisia, was the surprise winner of the men’s 400 freestyle.
