Bronze be damned, a chance to see Katie Ledecky is the thrill of opening night

On a dramatic opening night at the World Aquatics Championships’ (WCH) swimming competition, a packed crowd hollered, music blared but talent spoke loudest. The greatest female swimmer of all time lost to the finest female swimmer of this time. Katie Ledecky used to be a poster on Summer McIntosh’s wall. Now the Canadian, two lanes away in the women’s 400m freestyle final, was offering the American proof of how powerfully that inspiration had worked.

In a race about seconds, it was the years which showed. McIntosh, who won, is 18, Ledecky, who was third, is 28. Time in every way is on the former’s side. When the American won her first 400m Olympic gold in 2016, the Canadian was nine. The wonder of sport is that sometimes a fan can turn into a rival. It is a testimony to McIntosh’s drive and Ledecky’s longevity.

Both women arrived at the blocks with a poker player’s expression. The competition face is a beautiful thing. Ledecky last broke the 400m world record in 2016, McIntosh did it this June. At this distance this wasn’t a fully fair fight but still Ledecky comes. As long as they can draw a competitive breath, champions want to measure themselves.

I’m here at the WCH Arena for the race, but really I’m here to watch Ledecky. The exceptional, in any field, exert a unique pull. The poet, the sculptor, the dancer, the swimmer, any time you get to see The Greatest, you go. Especially because swimming offers too few chances.

The sporting spotlight is never shared equally. Across this Sports Hub precinct on July 27, Arsenal were playing Newcastle in a pre-season friendly. The last time either won the Premier League title was 2004 and yet they were watched by 38,720. In this watery arena in a car park, the full house which watched Ledecky chase McIntosh in hard competition numbered less than 5,000.

Swimming appeared at the first Olympics in 1896 and it has produced Tarzans, legendary moustaches and a finned human named Michael Phelps, and yet, perplexingly, has never quite seized our regular attention. Its vocabulary is less familiar, its names less heralded, its feats too rarely on TV. Ledecky is astonishing – four golds in a single Olympics, golds in the same event (800m) in four Games – yet she is probably less known by some than the reserves of Arsenal’s team.

Yet Ledecky swims to challenge herself, not to be famous. She now has 27 world championship medals, yet competes without any apparent conceit. The most difficult thing for great athletes can be losing yet Ledecky, in the rare times she does lose, does so with grace.

Race done on Sunday night, she walked through the mixed zone, stopping briefly for media requests. “I would’ve liked to be a little faster,” she said. “I was a little faster earlier this year, so there’s always that slight bit of wanting to be better than that.” Her smile was wide, her tone tinged with gratitude. “But I can’t complain with the medal. Fourth place was a 3:58 (Ledecky timed 3:58.49, Australian Lani Pallister was fourth in 3:58.87) so that could have easily been me.”

A few days ago I’d asked the American swimmer Regan Smith what was extraordinary about Ledecky and her answer went 242 words. It started with “a lot of things”. When Smith was 15 she was on a trip with Ledecky and said, “I was very star struck. And I think she carries herself with a lot of grace”.

“She’s very down to earth,” said Smith, the 100m backstroke world-record holder. “If you don’t see her, and you’re not at the pool, you would never know that she is who she is.” Later Smith, 23, added: “She’s an exceptional leader, too, and she’s very good at putting others before herself.”

Roger Federer raised everyone’s level, Ledecky made everyone faster. At the 2020 Olympics, Australia’s Ariarne Titmus, who defeated her in the 400m freestyle, said, “I wouldn’t be here without her”. On Sunday night, China’s Li Bingjie, who edged out Ledecky to win silver, was as complimentary.

“She may not be at her peak form now, but this result is still very significant and meaningful to me. I’ve looked up to her since I was a young athlete. I’ve had this dream since 2017, and Katie has always been someone I view as a great athlete.”

July 28 is the 1,500m heats and it is the start of Ledecky territory. “I think,” she said, “the first day is sometimes a hit or miss for me at these worlds. I’m really excited for the distance races, I mean that’s kind of my thing.”

She is the saint of suffering and the 1,500m is her promised land. Fittingly it’s the name of a song by one of her favourite singers Bruce Springsteen and maybe, on Sunday, defeat slowly digested, she might have rolled through her playlist and listened to words from it which define her devoted life.

“I’ve done my best to live the right way.

“I get up every morning and go to work each day.”