TOKYO: Australia's Ariarne Titmus drew first blood in her Olympic showdown with American Katie Ledecky on Monday after her brilliantly timed swim secured a famous victory in the 400m freestyle at the Tokyo Games.
Olympic swimming has, of late, lacked the excitement of hyped-up, top tier big rivals going head-to-head but this encounter certainly lived up to its billing.
The rivalry between the pair caught fire at the 2019 World Championships when Titmus stunned an unwell Ledecky to win the 400 freestyle title.
Monday's thrilling race has set the swimming competition alight and there is much more to come with the pair set to clash again in the 200 freestyle on Wednesday and then again in the 800 on Saturday.
Ledecky, a five-times Olympic gold medal winner, grabbed an early lead and held it until the 350m mark when the 20-year-old Titmus edged ahead and never looked back. Agencies
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