- American superstar
Katie Ledecky took silver in the women's 400-meter freestyle at the Olympics. - Ledecky was bested by Australian Ariarne Titmus, missing out on gold by just 0.67 seconds.
- Ledecky's time had been the second-fastest of her career and the fourth-fastest in history.
American superstar swimmer Katie Ledecky came up just short of gold in the women's 400-meter freestyle at the Olympics on Sunday.
Ledecky, who holds the world record in the event, was bested by Australian Ariarne Titmus, who has been challenging Ledecky's dominance at the top.
At the start of the race, Ledecky worked her way to what looked like a somewhat comfortable lead. However, after 200 meters, Titmus turned on the burners, piercing through the water to catch Ledecky and nose into the led.
Ledecky tried to make one more push through the final stretch but didn't have enough in the tank to catch Titmus, missing out on gold by 0.67 seconds.
-#TokyoOlympics (@NBCOlympics) July 26, 2021
Titmus' gold medal-winning time of 3:56.69 was the second-fastest in the event's history, trailing only Ledecky's world record mark set at the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Ledecky's time of 3:57.36 was the second-fastest of her career, the fastest she has swum the event since the Rio final, and the fourth-fastest time in the event's history.
Despite missing out on gold, Ledecky had a great attitude after her performance.
"I fought tooth and nail and just gave it my all, so I can't be disappointed by that," Ledecky told NBC's Michele Tafoya after the race. "It was a good time by me, just an awesome swim by her."