Swimmer Katie Ledecky wins silver in 400-meter free-style

US swimming queen Katie Ledecky‘s Olympic crown began to slip in Tokyo on Monday morning when she lost to Australia’s Ariarne Titmus by less than a second in a hard-fought 400-meter free-style final.

The quadruple Rio 2016 gold medalist could only manage silver after she lost the neck and neck battle to Australian rival Titmus by 67 hundredths of a second.

Ledecky had been leading for much of the race but Titmus slipped past the US champion in the neighboring lane in the final 50-meter to touch the wall a fraction of a second ahead.

China‘s Li Bingiie claimed bronze.

Ledecky said she gave it her all, but her rival was too good for her.

‘I’ve had some tough ones over the years. It was certainly a tough race and I delivered,’ she said.

‘I couldn’t do much better than that. [It was] a tremendous race, a lot of fun.

‘I can’t be too disappointed. It was my second best swim ever [over 400-meter freestyle]. I felt like I fought tooth and nail and that’s all you can ask for.’

Ledecky said the new Olympic champion Titmus outsmarted her.

‘She definitely swam a really smart race. She was really controlled up front. I felt smooth and strong. I looked up at 300m and she was right there so I knew it would be a battle to the end.

‘I didn’t feel like I died or really fell off. She just had a faster final 50m or 75m and got her hand to the wall first.’

The 24-year-old from California won four Rio 2016 gold medals with four victories in Rio 2016 in the 200m free-style, 400m free-style, 800m free-style and the 200m relay. Ledecky also won silver in the 100m free-style relay.

And she picked up gold at London 2012 in the 800-meter free-style.

Titmus and Ledecky dominated the 400-meter freestyle from the outset with both swimmers vying for first place.

The pair pulled well ahead of the pack by the first 200 meters with a 1.88 second difference between third place Canadian swimmer McIntosh and second-place Titmus.    

The American held the lead for the initial 300 meters but Titmus was watching her all the way, literally lurking at her heels.

The young Australian ominously surged closer and was just 0.16 seconds behind Ledecky with 100 meters remaining.

Titmus then reeled in her rival in a perfectly-executed race plan to win by half a body-length in a time of three minutes 56.69 seconds. 

Ledecky touched home in 3:57.36 and China’s Bingjie was well back in third position in 4:01.08.

Titmus and Ledecky will also square off in a much-hyped 200-meter freestyle battle, though the American is favored to win their duel over 800-meter. 

Team USA has thus far claimed 12 medals – five gold, three silver and four bronze. 

Golds went to sharpshooter Will Shaner, fencer Lee Kiefer and Anastasija Zolotic in taekwondo. Meanwhile, Chase Kalisz triumphed in the men’s 400-meter individual medley.

Yet the US men’s basketball team suffered a shock 83-76 defeat at the hands of France on Sunday, losing at the Olympics for the first time since 2004 and for just the sixth time in the history of the tournament. 

Simone Biles also had a rare off day on Sunday as Team USA failed to win a qualifying round for the first time since 2010 and finished second behind Russia.  

Biles was left long faced after a shaky performance which saw her penalized on both floor and vault as her team finished on 170.526, behind their rivals on 171.629.

Yet she remains on track to win six Olympic golds after successfully qualifying across all individual and team competitions, despite taking a backwards tumble after a botched dismount on the uneven bars.