"Summer McIntosh is a bit more different to Katie Ledecky" - Ariarne Titmus on her relationship with her peers beyond racing
Ariarne Titmus has stated that she gets along well with both Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh, though she's far closer with one of them.
Australia's Titmus, United States' Katie Ledecky, and Canada's Summer McIntosh — three swimmers who've held one world record or the other in the recent past — have formed a great rivalry in swimming.
This was on show in the women’s 400-meter freestyle at the Swimming World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, earlier this year, where Titmus won the gold medal with a time of three minutes and 55.38 seconds, breaking the world record by seven-tenths of a second.
The record previously belonged to McIntosh, who had taken it in March from Titmus, who took it from Ledecky, who had held it since 2014, in May 2022.
The three of them are undoubtedly the strongest trio in women's swimming now, and excitement is building ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Titmus has stated that she will head into the quadrennial event with a lot of confidence. Having won the 200m and 400m freestyle double at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she is set to defend her title in the French capital next year.
“Going into the Olympics now in the 400m especially, I have a lot of confidence. I think going to the Olympics next year to try and defend both my titles is going to be a tough gig but it’s definitely my main goal,” she expressed. (via olympics.com.au)
The Australian's two main competitors will be Ledecky and McIntosh, two players Titmus has stated that she gets along well with, though she is a lot closer to the former.
“For Katie [Ledecky] and I, I’ve been racing her since I was 16 years old. We get along personally, great, there’s no rivalry there whatsoever beyond racing. I really value that. But certainly, in the pool… the race is on,” she said.
“With Summer [McIntosh], I haven’t raced her too much and she’s still quite young and getting into racing in the international scene and she’s a bit more different [to Ledecky],” she added.
"There's a lot of work to be done" - Ariane Titmus ahead of 2024 Paris Olympics
With the 2024 Pairs Olympics less than a year away, everyone's focus has now shifted to the quadrennial event. While Ariane Titmus is aware that the Olympic Games are the next big event in swimming, she stated that she is staying focused in the present by preparing for a few domestic competitions.
The 23-year-old also said that she is still working on fine-tuning certain aspects ahead of the Olympics.
"The Olympics is pretty much the next big comp, that's what we're gearing up for now. We have Olympic trials before then and a few more domestic competitions, but really it's go time... banking away as much work as possible and fine tuning a few areas. There's a lot of work to be done," she said.