Ariarne Titmus defeated American Katie Ledecky again at the Olympics, defending her 400-meter freestyle title in one of the most anticipated races of the Paris Games.
Titmus, the Australian star known as the “Terminator,” won an event the American had previously won in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, handing Ledecky a second straight loss at the event.
With her nails painted Australian yellow, Titmus led the race from start to finish. The 23-year-old faced her biggest challenge, Canadian Summer McIntosh, but won comfortably in three minutes and 57.49 seconds.
“I've probably felt the anticipation and pressure for this race more than anything else in my life, to be honest, and I'm pretty good at handling pressure, but I've definitely felt it,” Titmus said.
“I am happy to have achieved this result and I feel very honoured to be part of the race and to be alongside legends like Katie.
“I admire her very much as an athlete and there is certainly no rivalry between them beyond racing. I respect her very much as a person,” Titmus added.
Canada's McIntosh, 17, took silver in 3:58.37, while American Ledecky followed suit with bronze in 4:00.86.
Ledecky remains with six individual gold medals in her glittering career, still the most of any swimmer in Olympic history.
Titmus already has three individual Olympic victories on her growing resume. She won the 200 and 400 freestyle in Tokyo and is the favorite to achieve the same double in Paris.
Ledecky isn't done yet. She missed a chance to face Titmus again in the 200 freestyle, but the American is the favorite to take home gold in both the 800 and 1,500 meters.
Maertens wins gold for Germany in the men's 400m freestyle
Germany's Lukas Maertens became the first ever swimming champion at the Paris Olympics after winning his first Olympic gold in the men's 400m freestyle, which was held shortly before the women's event.
Emerging triumphant from a final packed with world champions, Maertens touched the wall in three minutes and 41.78 seconds to finish ahead of Australian silver medallist Elijah Winnington and South Korean bronze winner Kim Woo-min at La Defense Arena.
Maertens, 22, came into the race with the fastest time this year and made it the ultimate stage to become the first German winner in the event since Uwe Dassler took the title for East Germany at the 1988 Seoul Games.
The German ran at a world record pace until the final 50 metres, and that proved enough despite Winnington's fast finish, who claimed his second Olympic medal.
Australia sets Olympic record in women's 4x100m freestyle relay
Australia went two for two against rivals the United States in the women's 4×100 freestyle relay, securing its fourth consecutive Olympic title in that event.
The quartet of Mollie O'Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris set an Olympic record with a winning time of three minutes and 28.92 seconds.
Americans Kate Douglass, Gretchen Walsh, Torri Huske and Simone Manuel recovered to take silver in 3:30.20. They edged out the Chinese team of Yang Junxuan, Cheng Yujie, Zhang Yufei and Wu Qingfeng by one-tenth of a second.
Dressel leads U.S. to gold in men's 4x100m freestyle relay
An American team led by Caeleb Dressel won the Olympic gold medal in the men's 4×100-meter relay.
The quartet of Jack Alexy, Chris Guiliano, Hunter Armstrong and Dressel crossed the finish line in three minutes and 9.28 seconds, with Australia taking silver in 3:10.35 and bronze for Italy in 3:10.70.
But the U.S. had its work cut out for it after the first leg, with Chinese 100m world record holder Pan Zhanle putting in two grueling laps.
The dominant Americans came back into the race with Dressel propelling them to the finish line.
Kyle Chalmers produced a spectacular final stretch to hand Australia the silver medal, with his time of 46.59 the fastest of any swimmer.
The United States has long dominated the event, winning 10 of the 14 times it has been on the Olympic programme before Paris. It only missed out on the top spot in 2000 (Australia), 2004 (South Africa) and 2012 (France), and as a result of the boycott in 1980.
