Ariarne Titmus, the reigning Olympic champion in the women’s 200- and 400-meter freestyle and the world record holder in the long course and short course 400-meter freestyle, decided not to attend the women’s 400-meter freestyle in Melbourne, Australia, allowing her all time rival Katie Ledecky to take the win.
“I’ll definitely be asleep,” (The race will start at 1:30 a.m. in Australia) said Titmus. “I’ll probably look up the results, look at the splits, but I really won’t pay too much attention to it.” Most swimmers in her position would be raring to defend the world title against Ledecky who has dominated the competition for a decade.
But Titmus has her reasons for not going. “It doesn’t bother me that I’m not going to be in the headlines or the media or the spotlight when the world championships are on. That’s not why I swim. I swim because I love it and I want to perform on the biggest stage, which for me is the Olympic Games.”
There will only be a handful of Titmus-Ledecky rematches before the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Since Titmus is competing in the Commonwealth games instead of racing at worlds and Ledecky has decided not to travel to Australia in August for “Duel in the Pool,” eliminating the possibility of another rematch.
Titmus dethroned Ledecky two years after her first major win – a bronze in a relay. She has now beaten Ledecky in three out of the five contests they have competed in together. “When we first came together, Arnie was 38 seconds off Katie in the 800-meter freestyle, she was 16 seconds off Katie in the 400 and she was eight seconds off Katie in the 200,” said Boxall, Titmus’s coach. “We never even thought about the Olympics. We were getting on that journey and making sure she was getting better and better.” She gained fame after she won gold at the last Worlds in 2019 when she upset 15-time world champion Ledecky. Then, at the Tokyo Olympics, she won two gold medals after she beat Ledecky in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle events.
“I’ll definitely be asleep,” (The race will start at 1:30 a.m. in Australia) said Titmus. “I’ll probably look up the results, look at the splits, but I really won’t pay too much attention to it.” Most swimmers in her position would be raring to defend the world title against Ledecky who has dominated the competition for a decade.
But Titmus has her reasons for not going. “It doesn’t bother me that I’m not going to be in the headlines or the media or the spotlight when the world championships are on. That’s not why I swim. I swim because I love it and I want to perform on the biggest stage, which for me is the Olympic Games.”
There will only be a handful of Titmus-Ledecky rematches before the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Since Titmus is competing in the Commonwealth games instead of racing at worlds and Ledecky has decided not to travel to Australia in August for “Duel in the Pool,” eliminating the possibility of another rematch.
Titmus dethroned Ledecky two years after her first major win – a bronze in a relay. She has now beaten Ledecky in three out of the five contests they have competed in together. “When we first came together, Arnie was 38 seconds off Katie in the 800-meter freestyle, she was 16 seconds off Katie in the 400 and she was eight seconds off Katie in the 200,” said Boxall, Titmus’s coach. “We never even thought about the Olympics. We were getting on that journey and making sure she was getting better and better.” She gained fame after she won gold at the last Worlds in 2019 when she upset 15-time world champion Ledecky. Then, at the Tokyo Olympics, she won two gold medals after she beat Ledecky in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle events.
