For a long time, Katie Ledecky has remained the superwoman of the swimming world. But has the woman with seven Olympic and 21 world championship gold medals met her kryptonite? It was a case of deja vu for Ledecky as Australia’s Ariarne Titmus thwarted her at the Olympics for the second time in a row. Much like how then a 6x Olympic gold medalist didn’t let down a 9-year-old Ledecky as she asked for an autograph, Michael Phelps is still around to buck up his former teammate. He didn’t disappoint then, and he certainly wasn’t one to disappoint now!

Ledecky faced defending gold medal champion Titmus at the 400-meter freestyle finals on July 27. Having won Olympic gold at the 2016 Summer Games in the same event, she looked to get back on the pedestal. It was an easy win for the Aussie who dominated from the get-go to win the gold with an impressive time of 3:57.49 seconds, with Ledecky, expected to challenge for the top spot, finishing a distant third in 4:00.86 seconds. In fact, the real challenge to Titmus came from 17-year-old Canadian, Summer McIntosh, who finished second with 3:58.37 seconds. The Canadian was hot on her heels, but Titmus proved to be too good that day.

Naturally, the result didn’t sit well, but the 23-time Olympic gold medalist, Michael Phelps, has offered them hope. In an interview with NBC Sports, Phelps was asked about what his thoughts were on Katie Ledecky’s 400m freestyle event. “You have to give credit where credit’s due,” he began.

“She’s setting records every single day. Moving forward, she’s coming into her bread and butter events. The events she has dominated her whole career. This race will be something she will put behind her, and really start to generate that focus towards the upcoming events.” Ledecky has indeed dominated more in other events. She is the only swimmer to win five consecutive world titles in an individual event, the 800m freestyle. In fact, it is the 800m event where she won her first Olympic gold at the London Games in 2008. She also holds the world record in 800m freestyle (8 minutes, 4.79 seconds) and the 1500m freestyle (15:20.48). Thus, there is more to come from her at the Olympics.

After finishing the race Ledecky told Nexstar’s Matt Barnes, “So I would have been happier with a faster time.” Explaining what went down, she added, “I just didn’t have it on the last 200 or 250 that way I wanted to. I felt like my first 150 was pretty good. I went out with the field and felt like I was within striking distance. I just couldn’t kick in into that next gear that I would have wanted to finish it out.”

She, however, appearing content with the bronze as she quipped, “But again, the medal is a medal.” She remains at six individual gold medals in her career, which is the most of any female swimmer in Olympic history. Quite contrary to how the Americans are feeling about this.

Still, Ledecky’s bronze medal finish did attract some fierce and unforgiving reactions from Americans. A fan on X wrote, “Maybe we should only celebrate the golds. If you’re not first. You’re last,” in response to a post by Team USA, highlighting Ledecky’s 11th Olympic medal. Making expectations clear, another fan wrote, “We need to start getting gold.” Ledekcy has raised the bar herself. Seven Olympic gold medals is no mean feat. But she has now been held off by Titmus twice at the Olympics.

So, what lies ahead for the American swimmer?

The odds looked to be in her favor when she edged her Aussie rival during the 400m freestyle heats. While Titmus seemed to have a strong start then as well, Ledecky refused to back down and finished ahead of her in 4:02:19 seconds. Unfortunately for the American, she couldn’t swim past the defending champion in the finals. Even though the swimmer didn’t walk away with the coveted gold after the 400m freestyle finals, she has a few more chances to turn things around.

• Ledecky is looking to beat the record for most medals won by an American woman. Jenny Thompson has currently won 12 medals across 4 Olympic Games: 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlanta, 2000 Sydney, and 2004 Athens.
• The 27-year-old will contest in the 800m freestyle and 1500m freestyle at the Paris La Defense Arena and will be the favorite to clinch gold at these events, which will take her past Thompson.