Titmus blessed to feature in hyped Olympic showdown

The Australian feels privileged to be the centrepiece of the showcase 400m freestyle with American legend Katie Ledecky and Canadian starlet Summer McIntosh.

The anticipated duel, on the first day of competition at the pool of the Paris Games on Saturday, is dubbed the sequel to the race of the century at last year's world championships.

Then, Titmus won in a world record time.

Now, she wants more.

"For me, honestly it's just very exciting to be a part of this," Titmus said.

"I kind of wish that I was watching on as a swimming fan.

"You look back at the legacy points in swimming - there's Thorpey and Hackey and Kieren," she said, referring to the famous freestyle battles of  Australian greats Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett and Kieren Perkins.

"Being a swimming fan then would have been so fun.

"So I think about what it would be like to be a swimming fan now and I just feel so honoured and proud of the work I've done to be in this position, to be able to be a part of this contention to win gold.

"It's more satisfying in my races that to win, I have to beat the greatest.

"That gives me more satisfaction knowing that if I do win, it's in the toughest field in the world."

The 23-year-old Titmus is defending Olympic champion in both the 400m freestyle and the 200 free.

The 27-year-old Lececky is the most successful female swimmer ever: seven Olympic gold medals, 16 world championship golds.

McIntosh is the rising star - aged just 14 at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, she finished fourth in the 400m freestyle.

The trio have all held the world record in the eight-lap event in the past decade.

Ledecky set the benchmark in 2014, lowering it three times until Titmus captured it in 2022.

McIntosh then took the record in March last year before Titmus reclaimed it with her world championship victory in the initial race of the century.

"The world of swimming never stops," Titmus said.

"There's always people swimming fast so you can never just expect that gold medals are going to come your way."

Titmus has timed her preparation for Paris "perfectly".

"I have probably had the cleanest run through to a major meet this time round so that gives me good confidence," she said.

"At Olympic trials three years ago, I was off the back of a shocking shoulder injury - I pretty much had three months of work and I really didn't know what to expect.

"I feel like I am now a smarter swimmer. I have so much more experience under my belt.

"This time around, I come in a much more well-rounded athlete and I think a much more well-rounded person.

"I have grown so much as a human outside of swimming the past three years which I think has made me a better athlete."

Part of the growth came from surgery to remove a benign tumour from an ovary last September.

"That was probably the best thing that could have happened to me, to be honest," Titmus said.

"It put a lot of things into perspective - moreso, swimming is just swimming.

"But also I am only young once and I really have to make the most of this moment in my life and the chance that I have to race at an Olympic Games.

"Not only just to be an Olympian but fighting for medals and gold medals is very rare."

Australian Associated Press