‘Terminator' Triumphs In 200m, Ledecky Bounces Back For 1st Gold

Ohashi secured an unprecedented golden double for the hosts with a win in the women’s 200m individual medley, less than two years ater she considered quiting swimming because of depression. China survived pressure from the US to make it a hat-trick of diving golds and underline their supremacy in the sport

Tokyo

An electric Ariarne Titmus dethroned Katie Ledecky to become the 200m freestyle champion Wednesday, only for the gutsy American great to bounce back and clinch the first-ever women’s Olympic 1500m freestyle title.

Australian Titmus nickname ‘The Terminator’, now has two Tokyo golds, both at Ledecky’s expense after upsetting her arch-rival to win the 400m free on Monday.

But the chances of US superstar Caeleb Dressel winning a much-touted seven gold medals in Tokyo vanished when he opted out of the 4x200m relay squad that finished fourth behind winner Great Britain.

Titmus swam the second-fastest 200 in history last month (1:53.09) to signal her intentions, ranking only behind Federica Pellegrini’s super-suited world record of 1:52.98 from 2009.

She powered through the field from third at 150m to touch in a new Olympic record time of 1min 53.50sec, with a sluggish Ledecky fifth.

Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey took silver (1:53.92), with Canada’s Penny Oleksiak third (1:54.70).

“Bloody exhausted, that was tough one,” said Titmus.

“Honestly, it’s not the time that I thought I could do this morning but it’s the Olympics and there’s a lot of other things going on. So it’s just about winning here and I’m very happy.”