It was one of the most anticipated races in the pool, billed as the “race of the century”—the women’s 400-m freestyle, featuring American Katie Ledecky, who already owns 10 Olympic medals, racing against Australian Ariarne Titmus and Canadian Summer McIntosh. It’s Ledecky’s least dominant event; she last won gold at the 2022 world championships and lost to Titmus in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics.