The Paris 2024 Olympics swimming has got underway at the La Défense Arena with Women’s 100m Butterfly and the Women’s 400m Freestyle – with the Aussie contingent off to an encouraging start, with four gold medal events lined up for the official opening night of the Games.
In one of the opening grudge clashes, USA swimmer Katie Ledecky sent a strong message to the Australian swimming team, beating out World Record holder Ariana Titmus by 0.3 seconds in Heat 3 in the 400m Freestyle. Both swimmers topped the heat stage, qualifying for the semi-finals.
Titmus started out strongly in her race, however, Ledecky fought back in the closing 100 metres to win – with the result weaving another chapter into the growing rivalry between the two swimmers.
However, despite the result, Australian legend Ian Thorpe backed the world record holder, believing Titmus is just getting started.
“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’,” said Thorpe.
“That was the entree.”
Thorpe’s viewpoint was also echoed by Giaan Rooney on Nine’s coverage of the Games.
“Just having a look at Arnie at the end of that race, she actually didn’t look that pushed,” said Rooney.
“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’.
Titmus will also not be the only Australian who qualified for the 400m Freestyle semi-final.
Jamie Perkins snuck into third in Heat 2 with 4:03:30, losing out to Erika Fairweather, as she looms as one of New Zealand’s best hopes of breaking a gold medal drought in the pool.
Meanwhile, two Aussie swimmers have also qualified for the Women’s 100m Butterfly semi-final.
Emma McKeon finished second in her heat with 56.79, while Alexandria Perkins finished third in Heat 3 with a time of 57.46, with both swimmers qualifying for the fastest heat. Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei, who beat McKeonn in her heat, finished at the top of qualification.
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Following the opening events, the Men’s 100m Breaststroke kicked off the Swimming events for the men, with Aussie Joshua Yong producing a stunning opening swim to finish third in Heat 3, despite being in the outside lane for the heat.
It was a disappointing night for Aussie Sam Williamson, with fatigue seeing him crash out of contention in Heat 3, while current breaststroke champion Adam Peaty from Great Britain finishing in second overall behind the Netherlands’ Caspar Corbeau.
The 400m Mens’ Freestyle saw Chinese swimmer Fei Liwei record a phenomenal heat time of 3:44:60, his personal best, to send a strong message to the Australian and US camps for the semi-finals.
Aussie Sam Short, the fifth-fastest swimmer ever in the history of the 400m event, finished second in his feat, with Brazilian swimmer Guilherme Costa producing a phenomenal final 50m result to beat out Short and current champion Kim Woo-min, who finished in fourth.
Elijah Winnington finished second in his heat to German Lukas Maertens – with both qualifying for semi-finals.
The swimming will shift to the Women’s 4x 100m Freestyle relay heats, followed by the Men’s 4 x 100m relay heats, before shifting to the finals to conclude the evening.