Swimming: Australia's Titmus wins women's 400m freestyle gold at Tokyo Olympics

TOKYO: Ariarne Titmus upset Katie Ledecky to claim the Olympic 400m freestyle gold medal on Monday (Jul 26) in the second-fastest time ever swum, with the American great having to settle for second.

The Australian inched clear over the final 50m to touch in 3:56.69. Only world record holder Ledecky has ever gone quicker.

Ledecky hit the wall for silver in 3:57.36, with China's Li Bingjie a distant third in 4:01.08.

"At the 200, I was a little bit worried, like I knew she would be there. No one's going to come to an Olympics, especially Katie Ledecky, unprepared," said Titmus.

"So I guess I just had to trust myself. I tried to stay as composed as I could and use the speed that I have.

"To pull it off in the back end against someone who has an amazing second half of her race, I'm really proud of that."

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Ledecky came to Japan on the back of winning four gold medals and a silver at Rio in 2016, but Titmus has been snapping at her heels, ousting her as world champion in 2019 and topping the time sheets this season.

"I think I flipped at the 300, I saw she was there. I just wanted to give all I had, I fought tooth and nail," said Ledecky.

"I can't be disappointed with that, it was a good time from me, an awesome swim by her."

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