A huge race to kick off the Olympics: Get ready for the women’s 400m freestyle

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PARIS — It is probably the most anticipated swimming final of the Olympic Games in Paris, and no one will have to wait long for it.

The women’s 400m freestyle will take place on Saturday, with qualifying heats in the morning and the final on the first evening of the Olympic swimming programme. The programme will feature three women who hold the world record in this event.

Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, 23, is the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the event and the favorite for Saturday’s competition. American Katie Ledecky, 27, won gold in the 400 freestyle at the previous Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The field has also been expanded to include 17-year-old Canadian phenom Summer McIntosh, who set the world record in the event in 2023 before Titmus broke it.

“They’re amazing athletes and I’ve had the opportunity to race them quite a bit over the last few years — especially Summer, who was in the U.S. and trained in the U.S.,” Ledecky said Wednesday. “It’s always fun to race against the best.

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

Ledecky said she likes her chances in the event, but she knows it’s a big field beyond the top three headliners. New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather, 20, for one, would like to play spoilsport here; she defeated McIntosh at the 2023 World Championships to win bronze, finishing behind Titmus and Ledecky.

That World Championship final in Fukuoka, Japan, was billed as some kind of race of the century, but the race itself was a bit of a letdown — because it wasn’t close. Titmus deserves credit for that, beating the field by three seconds to become the first woman to break 3 minutes, 56 seconds in the event. (And then she nearly broke that world record earlier this year at the Australian trials.)

With no runners-up in sight, Ariarne Titmus is gunning for gold in the women’s 400m freestyle at the 2023 World Championships. She will be the favorite going into Saturday’s event. (Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

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

In the years since, she has taken the sport by storm, winning four gold medals at world championships (in the 200 butterfly and 400 individual medley in both 2022 and 2023) plus a silver and three bronze. She trains in Sarasota, Florida, and in February she defeated Ledecky in a final of the 800 freestyle, 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 could have secured gold in Tokyo.

But McIntosh won’t be swimming the 800-meter freestyle at these Games, though her schedule is full. She’s entered for the 400-meter freestyle, the 200-meter butterfly, the 200-meter individual medley and the 400-meter individual medley. She holds the world record in the 400-meter individual medley. She’ll be the favorite there and a top contender in her other events, including clashes with Americans Regan Smith in the 200-meter butterfly and Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh in what should be a hotly contested 200-meter individual medley. And of course, she’ll likely be a key part of Canada’s relay effort. If McIntosh really wants to turn the Summer Games into the Summer Games, she’ll have to win a lot of medals — something she’s certainly capable of, but still a lot to ask of a teenager.

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

“We can handle this. You don’t become great without the pressure and expectations.”

Meanwhile, Titmus is the world record holder in the 200m freestyle and the favorite in that event. She took silver in the 800m in Tokyo, behind Ledecky, and will compete in that distance again. Titmus is also likely to be an integral part of Australia’s 4x200m freestyle relay team. Her gold medal haul will be huge for Australia as it looks to beat the US in what has become a rather entertaining international rivalry. The Aussies earned almost double the number of gold medals as the Americans at the 2023 World Championships (a meet that didn’t include American star Caeleb Dressel, for what it’s worth).

Titmus says she has grown tremendously as a person and as a swimmer since Tokyo, where she won gold in the 200 and 400-meter freestyle.

“I’ll be honest and say I think I’ve prepared better than I’ve ever prepared for a swimming competition,” Titmus told reporters at the Australian team’s training camp in Chartres, France. “So, more than anything, I’m just excited to see what I can do.

“That’s why I’m still swimming, because I believe I have more in me. That’s my goal at these Games: to try to get the most out of myself and see what I’m capable of.”

Ledecky, the veteran of the field, has the same mindset. She’s been thinking a lot lately about her career and how she’s transformed from the wide-eyed 15-year-old in London to the elder stateswoman of the sport. She’s just two gold medals shy of 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 freestyle.

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

Summer McIntosh is just 17 years old and on the verge of winning a major Olympic Games. Her first event in Paris is the 400-meter freestyle on Saturday. (Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)

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