A massive race to start the Olympics: Get ready for the women’s 400-meter freestyle

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PARIS — It’s arguably the most highly anticipated swimming final of the Paris Games, and no one will have to wait very long to see it.

The women’s 400-meter freestyle will take place Saturday, with qualifying heats in the morning and the final to follow on the first night of the Olympic swimming program, featuring a field that includes three women who have owned the world record in this event.

Australian Ariarne Titmus, 23, is the defending Olympic gold medalist in the event and the favorite entering Saturday’s competition. American Katie Ledecky, 27, took gold in the 400 free in the previous Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Plus, the field includes 17-year-old Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh, who set the world record in the event in 2023 before Titmus re-set it.

“They’re great athletes, and I’ve had the chance to race them quite a few times over the years now — especially Summer, being in the U.S., training in the U.S.,” Ledecky said Wednesday. “It’s always fun to race the best.

“Those two have continued to raise the game and raise my game. I know that I have to bring my best. I think they know that they have to bring their best. I think that’s what you want in an Olympic race.”

Ledecky said while she likes her chances in the event, she knows it’s a deep field beyond the top three headliners. For example, New Zealand’s 20-year-old Erika Fairweather would certainly like to play spoiler here; she out-touched McIntosh at 2023 worlds to earn bronze and finish behind Titmus and Ledecky.

That world championship final in Fukuoka, Japan, was billed as something of a race of the century, but the actual race was rather disappointing — because it wasn’t close. Titmus deserves all the credit for that, as she beat the field by three seconds and became the first woman to break 3 minutes, 56 seconds in the event. (And then she nearly lowered that world-record time earlier this year at Australian trials.)

With none of the runners-up in view, Ariarne Titmus reaches for gold in the women’s 400-meter freestyle at the 2023 world championships. She’ll be the favorite in Saturday’s event. (Adam Pretty / Getty Images)

McIntosh is poised to be a breakout star of these Olympics, her second. She was just 14 years old at the Tokyo Games, Canada’s youngest Olympian. She finished fourth in the 400 free and fourth as part of the 4×200 free relay.

In the years since, she’s taken the sport by storm, winning four gold medals at world championships (in the 200 fly and 400 IM in both 2022 and 2023) plus a silver and three bronze. She trains in Sarasota, Fla., and back in February she beat Ledecky in an 800 free final, handing the American her first loss in one of her most dominant events in more than 13 years in a time (8:11.39) that would have won gold in Tokyo.

But McIntosh will not swim the 800 free at these Games, though her schedule is loaded. She is entered in the 400 free, the 200 fly, the 200 IM and the 400 IM. She is the world record-holder in the 400 IM. She’ll be favored in that and a top contender in her other events, which will include clashes with Americans Regan Smith in the 200 fly and Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh in what should be a hotly contested 200 IM. And, of course, she’ll likely be a key part of the Canadian relay efforts. For McIntosh to truly turn the Summer Games into Summer’s Games, she’ll need to win quite a few medals — something she’s certainly capable of, but still something that’s a lot to ask of a teenager.

“Pressure is necessary if you’re going to do great things,” Brent Arckey, McIntosh’s coach, told CBC Sports earlier this year. “The great ones understand that. There’s an unhealthy side of that, but she’s surrounded by such great people.

“We can manage this. You don’t get to be great without the pressure and expectations.”

Meanwhile, Titmus is the world record-holder in the 200 free and the favorite in that event. She took silver in Tokyo in the 800, behind Ledecky, and will again compete at that distance. Titmus will also likely be an integral part of the Aussie 4×200 free relay team. Her gold-medal production will be huge for Australia as it looks to beat the U.S. in what has turned into a rather entertaining international rivalry. The Aussies earned nearly double the number of gold medals as the Americans at 2023 worlds (a meet that did not include U.S. star Caeleb Dressel, for what it’s worth).

Titmus said she’s grown immensely as both a person and swimmer since Tokyo, where she took home gold in both the 200 and 400 frees.

“I’m being honest and saying that I think I’ve prepared the best I ever have for a swim meet,” Titmus told reporters at Australia’s team training camp in Chartres, France. “So, more than anything, I’m just excited to see what I’m capable of.

“That’s why I still swim because I believe I’ve got more in the tank, and so that’s my goal at these Games, to try and get every (little bit) out of myself and see what I’m capable of.”

It’s the same mindset for Ledecky, the veteran of the field. She’s reflected a great deal lately on her career and how she’s gone from the wide-eyed 15-year-old in London to an elder stateswoman of the sport. She is just two gold medals away from tying the record for most gold medals for a female Olympian, set by gymnast Larisa Latynina, who won nine gold medals for the Soviet Union in the 1950s and ’60s. And she’s swimming her two best events here, the 800 and 1,500 frees.

Still, Ledecky believes she can compete to win all the way down to the 400 free, which is part of what makes Saturday’s race so compelling. It features arguably the greatest female swimmer ever in Ledecky, her top rival for the past handful of years in Titmus, and the teenager who could beat both and take over the Olympics in McIntosh. Let the Games begin.

Just 17 years old, Summer McIntosh is poised for a big Olympics. The first of her events in Paris is Saturday’s 400-meter freestyle. (Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images)

(Top illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; photos of Ariarne Titmus, Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh: Quinn Rooney, Maddie Meyer and Jacob Kupferman / Getty Images)