Tokyo (AFP)

A panting duel, and the start of a raid: the young Australian Ariarne Titmus on Monday nabbed Olympic gold in the 400m from the American queen Katie Ledecky, while the star of the sprint Caeleb Dressel pocketed, as soon as she entered the fray with the American 4x100m relay, the first of six titles he is aiming for in Tokyo.

On the French side, Marie Wattel finished 6th (56.27) in the 100m butterfly, won by the Canadian Margaret MacNeil (55.59), considering having "learned a lot" from her first Olympic final, at 24, for the Olympics-2024 in Paris .

"Today, I want to dream, I want to believe that I can do 55 seconds. On my pool shoes, there is Tokyo written on one side, and on the other, there is Paris ", explains the recent European champion of the distance.

The 4x100m sprinters recovered Florent Manaudou for the first time since the money won during the 2016 Olympics, but they also finished sixth, far from the untouchable Americans.

"It's mixed, we always want to do better, and the final was really open," said Clément Mignon, while the French still held second place at mid-distance.

But after the difficult transition which followed the Rio Olympics, "in four or six months, we recreated a more than correct dynamic. It took longer than expected for there to be a new wave, this new relay. is in its infancy and things can only get better ", relativizes the swimmer from Marseille.

- Titmus on the hunt -

Of the four morning finals, the top was the sumptuous 400m clash between Ariarne Titmus, 20, and Katie Ledecky, five-time Olympic champion at just 24.

Less well off, Titmus sounded the revolt at 250m, picking up with a brutal acceleration before tickling the world record (3: 56.46) to win in 3: 56.69, ahead of Ledecky (3: 57.36) and the Chinese Bingjie Li (4: 01.08).

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"Honestly, I expected to be more nervous," said the Australian after a warm hug with her American rival.

"I thanked her (...) If I didn't have someone like her to hunt, clearly I wouldn't swim like that".

Already beaten by Titmus at the 2019 Worlds over the same distance, Ledecky consoled herself for her first defeat in an Olympic final by rejoicing in her "best time for five years" over 400 m, ensuring that "that (the) boosts in terms of confidence ".

The pool marathoner also won the 200m series (1: 55.28) in the evening, Titmus being satisfied with the 3rd best time (1: 55.88), then those of the 1,500 m (15: 35.35), a distance that makes its mark. Olympic debut and of which she is the favorite.

She must also compete in the 4x200m and the 800m.

- Dressel opens his counter -

Coming to Tokyo with an equally generous program, his compatriot Caeleb Dressel won him gold in his first dive: in the playoffs on Sunday, he won the 4x100m relay by throwing Blake Pieroni, Bowen Becker and Zach Apple.

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Already Olympic champions in Rio, the Americans won in 3 min 8 sec 97, never worried by the Italians (3: 10.11) and the Australians (3: 10.22).

Titled only in the relay at the 2016 Olympics and thirteen times world champion since, Dressel is still aiming for the 100m, 100m butterfly and 50m titles, and those of the 4x100m medley and 4x100m mixed medley.

Briton Adam Peaty, 26, for his part won a second consecutive Olympic title in the 100m breaststroke, confirming his supremacy over the distance.

Leading from start to finish during the race won in 57.37, Peaty edged the Dutch Arno Kamminga (58.00) and the Italian Nicolo Martinenghi (58.33), for the first 100% European swimming podium this year, a sign of the singularity of breaststroke.

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"It is not a question of knowing who is the best all year round, but who is the best the same day", he stressed to the BBC, exhausted and moved, thanking his artist companion and his little one. boy.

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