<p>An electric Ariarne Titmus dethroned Katie Ledecky to become the 200m freestyle champion Wednesday, only for the gutsy American great to bounce back and clinch the first-ever women's Olympic 1500m freestyle title.</p>.<p>Australian Titmus now has two Tokyo golds, both at Ledecky's expense after upsetting her arch-rival to win the 400m free on Monday.</p>.<p>But the chances of US superstar Caeleb Dressel winning a much-touted seven gold medals in Tokyo vanished when he opted out of the 4x200m relay squad that finished fourth behind winner Great Britain.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/simone-biles-olympic-fate-in-balance-as-support-pours-in-1013705.html" target="_blank">Simone Biles' Olympic fate in balance as support pours in </a></strong></p>.<p>Titmus swam the second fastest 200 in history last month (1:53.09) to signal her intentions, ranking only behind Federica Pellegrini's super-suited world record of 1:52.98 from 2009.</p>.<p>She powered through the field from third at 150m to touch in a new Olympic record time of 1min 53.50sec, with a sluggish Ledecky fifth.</p>.<p>Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey took silver (1:53.92), with Canada's Penny Oleksiak third (1:54.70).</p>.<p>"Bloody exhausted, that was tough one," said Titmus.</p>.<p>"Honestly, it's not the time that I thought I could do this morning but it's the Olympics and there's a lot of other things going on. So it's just about winning here and I'm very happy."</p>.<p>She still has the 800m freestyle -- again against Ledecky -- and the 4x200m relay to go at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in a gruelling programme.</p>.<p>Despite the crushing loss of two titles, Ledecky was back in the pool barely 75 minutes later for a brutal 1500m, one of three new swim events on the programme this year.</p>.<p>The world record-holder is dominant in the event and didn't disappoint, producing a commanding swim to claim gold in 15:37.34.</p>.<p>Teammate Erica Sullivan (15:41.41) was second and Germany's Sarah Kohler (15:42.91) third.</p>.<p>"I'm so happy to go one-two there with Erica in the first women's mile. You can't have a better outcome than that, I'm so happy," said Ledecky.</p>.<p>"It means a lot. I think people maybe feel bad for me because I'm not winning everything and whatever but I want people to be more concerned about other things in the world, people who are truly suffering."</p>.<p>Ledecky, who won four gold and a silver at the Rio Olympics, has now claimed one gold and a silver in Tokyo with the 800m to go and potentially a relay.</p>.<p>Dressel was absent when the US 4x200m relay team lined up for the final, and they missed him, finishing outside the medals as Britain blitzed to victory.</p>.<p>Led off by Tom Dean and brought home by Duncan Scott, they touched in 6:58.58sec, just outside the 6:58.55 world record held by the United States. Russia were second and Australia third.</p>.<p>Dressel has already won one gold in the 4x100m relay and could feature in two more relays along with his three individual events -- the 50m and 100m freestyle and the 100m butterfly.</p>.<p>Before the relay he clocked 47.23sec to breeze into the 100m freestyle final, marginally slower than Russian dangerman Kliment Kolesnikov (47.11). Australian reigning champion Kyle Chalmers was sixth.</p>.<p>Elsewhere, Hungarian Kristof Milak powered to the Olympic men's 200m butterfly gold medal.</p>.<p>Milak, who crushed Michael Phelps' world record in 2019, hit the wall in a new Olympic record of 1:51.25, more than two seconds clear of Japan's Tomoru Honda and Italy's Federico Burdisso.</p>.<p>But he said that his trunks tore before the race, complaining it cost him.</p>.<p>"They split 10 minutes before I entered the pool and in that moment I knew the world record was gone," he told reporters after the race, angrily throwing the torn togs at a table. "I lost my focus and knew I couldn't do it."</p>.<p>Japan's Yui Ohashi motored to the women's 200m individual medley title, making it a Tokyo double after her earlier triumph in the 400m medley.</p>.<p>She produced a strong freestyle leg to touch in 2:08.52 in front of Alex Walsh and fellow American Kate Douglass, with defending champion Katinka Hosszu seventh.</p>.<p>In semi-final action, China's Zhang Yufei was dominant in the women's 200m butterfly, while Australia's Zac Stubblety-Cook led the field into the men's 200m breaststroke decider.</p>.<p>:+1::skin-tone-3::+1: 4</p>
<p>An electric Ariarne Titmus dethroned Katie Ledecky to become the 200m freestyle champion Wednesday, only for the gutsy American great to bounce back and clinch the first-ever women's Olympic 1500m freestyle title.</p>.<p>Australian Titmus now has two Tokyo golds, both at Ledecky's expense after upsetting her arch-rival to win the 400m free on Monday.</p>.<p>But the chances of US superstar Caeleb Dressel winning a much-touted seven gold medals in Tokyo vanished when he opted out of the 4x200m relay squad that finished fourth behind winner Great Britain.</p>.<p><strong>Read more: <a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/sports/simone-biles-olympic-fate-in-balance-as-support-pours-in-1013705.html" target="_blank">Simone Biles' Olympic fate in balance as support pours in </a></strong></p>.<p>Titmus swam the second fastest 200 in history last month (1:53.09) to signal her intentions, ranking only behind Federica Pellegrini's super-suited world record of 1:52.98 from 2009.</p>.<p>She powered through the field from third at 150m to touch in a new Olympic record time of 1min 53.50sec, with a sluggish Ledecky fifth.</p>.<p>Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey took silver (1:53.92), with Canada's Penny Oleksiak third (1:54.70).</p>.<p>"Bloody exhausted, that was tough one," said Titmus.</p>.<p>"Honestly, it's not the time that I thought I could do this morning but it's the Olympics and there's a lot of other things going on. So it's just about winning here and I'm very happy."</p>.<p>She still has the 800m freestyle -- again against Ledecky -- and the 4x200m relay to go at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in a gruelling programme.</p>.<p>Despite the crushing loss of two titles, Ledecky was back in the pool barely 75 minutes later for a brutal 1500m, one of three new swim events on the programme this year.</p>.<p>The world record-holder is dominant in the event and didn't disappoint, producing a commanding swim to claim gold in 15:37.34.</p>.<p>Teammate Erica Sullivan (15:41.41) was second and Germany's Sarah Kohler (15:42.91) third.</p>.<p>"I'm so happy to go one-two there with Erica in the first women's mile. You can't have a better outcome than that, I'm so happy," said Ledecky.</p>.<p>"It means a lot. I think people maybe feel bad for me because I'm not winning everything and whatever but I want people to be more concerned about other things in the world, people who are truly suffering."</p>.<p>Ledecky, who won four gold and a silver at the Rio Olympics, has now claimed one gold and a silver in Tokyo with the 800m to go and potentially a relay.</p>.<p>Dressel was absent when the US 4x200m relay team lined up for the final, and they missed him, finishing outside the medals as Britain blitzed to victory.</p>.<p>Led off by Tom Dean and brought home by Duncan Scott, they touched in 6:58.58sec, just outside the 6:58.55 world record held by the United States. Russia were second and Australia third.</p>.<p>Dressel has already won one gold in the 4x100m relay and could feature in two more relays along with his three individual events -- the 50m and 100m freestyle and the 100m butterfly.</p>.<p>Before the relay he clocked 47.23sec to breeze into the 100m freestyle final, marginally slower than Russian dangerman Kliment Kolesnikov (47.11). Australian reigning champion Kyle Chalmers was sixth.</p>.<p>Elsewhere, Hungarian Kristof Milak powered to the Olympic men's 200m butterfly gold medal.</p>.<p>Milak, who crushed Michael Phelps' world record in 2019, hit the wall in a new Olympic record of 1:51.25, more than two seconds clear of Japan's Tomoru Honda and Italy's Federico Burdisso.</p>.<p>But he said that his trunks tore before the race, complaining it cost him.</p>.<p>"They split 10 minutes before I entered the pool and in that moment I knew the world record was gone," he told reporters after the race, angrily throwing the torn togs at a table. "I lost my focus and knew I couldn't do it."</p>.<p>Japan's Yui Ohashi motored to the women's 200m individual medley title, making it a Tokyo double after her earlier triumph in the 400m medley.</p>.<p>She produced a strong freestyle leg to touch in 2:08.52 in front of Alex Walsh and fellow American Kate Douglass, with defending champion Katinka Hosszu seventh.</p>.<p>In semi-final action, China's Zhang Yufei was dominant in the women's 200m butterfly, while Australia's Zac Stubblety-Cook led the field into the men's 200m breaststroke decider.</p>.<p>:+1::skin-tone-3::+1: 4</p>
