Ian Thorpe backs Ariarne Titmus to beat Katie Ledecky in finals at Paris Olympics despite defeat in 400m freestyle heats

Katie Ledecky edged out Ariarne Titmus in the 400m freestyle heats at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Despite Titmus' defeat, Ian Thorpe backed the Australian to retain top position at the highly anticipated 400m freestyle finals on the first day of the Games.

Katie Ledecky, seven-time Olympic gold medalist, hit the Paris waters to defend her 800m and 1500m freestyle Olympic titles and improve her Tokyo Olympic silver in the 400m freestyle. At the Tokyo Games, Ledecky had lost to her arch-rival, Ariarne Titmus in the 400m freestyle, finishing second in 3:57.36 despite leading the pack at the 300m mark.

As the Paris Olympic bugles blew, Ledecky faced Titmus in the 400m freestyle heats and clocked in a time of 4:02.19 to win the bout, leaving the latter in second in 4:02.46. Despite losing, Titmus was backed by Australian former freestyle specialist, Ian Thorpe, who felt that she was just getting started. He said (via "TheRoarSports" on X)

"Do you know what? I can always read Arnie’s face after a race, you can tell exactly what she is thinking and she is thinking ‘I’m just going to get out of the pool and swim down’. That was the entree," Ian Thorpe said.

Giaan Rooney, another former Australian swimmer, watching Titmus race from up close, held a similar belief. On seeing Titmus compete in the heats, Rooney felt that she didn't pull out all her cards and did a 'bit of a play'.

"Just having a look at Arnie at the end of that race, she actually didn’t look that pushed. It didn’t look comfortable in that last 100 (metres) but I also wonder if that was a bit of a play of ‘I don’t want to burn everything I have this morning, if you want to post that time you post that time, I don’t need to,'" Rooney said (via "TheRoarSports").

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Ariarne Titmus excited to race the 'best in the world' Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle finals

Katie Ledecky lost to Titmus in the 400m freestyle at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which was her first individual loss in an Olympic race. The American is looking to face a highly contentious 400m freestyle pool, and so is Ariarne Titmus, who talked about facing the 'best in the world' and said (via "FoxSports"):

"“This is fun. It is always good to get out there and race Katie again. It is always fun to race the best in the world and I am excited to see what I can do tonight," she said.

Ledecky will hit the 1500m freestyle pool next on July 30, 2024, aiming for the win and the world record, and will also look to reclaim the Olympic gold in the 800m freestyle event for the third consecutive time.