Hannah Miley expects to take on a different Ye Shiwen on Wednesday night when the pair renew their acquaintance in the final of the 400 metres individual medley at the World Short-Course Championships in Istanbul.
Chinese teenager Ye was just three hundredths of a second slower over the final 100m than Ryan Lochte, winner of the men's race at the London Olympics.
Miley came fifth in that race, a year after taking silver at the World Championships, and the pair met again on Wednesday morning, side by side in heat three at the Sinan Erdem Dome.
With the event going straight to a final, different tactics are employed and Ye was clearly holding back over the freestyle as an impressive Miley touched in four minutes 28.91 seconds, the fastest through.
Former world champion Katinka Hosszu was second and Ye third, swimming well within herself before a turn of pace on the final 50m.
Miley said: "I reckoned in the heat she was backing off because I was like 'she's not coming, she's playing'.
"Which is good - every athlete does that, it shows the athlete has great prowess to be able to play about like that in the heat swim."
The Garioch swimmer, who claimed the European short-course title last month, added: "It wasn't all max hard but it wasn't a comfortable swim if that makes sense.
"For me watching Zsuzsanna Jakabos and Ye Shiwen going out so hard, I did kind of feel they were holding back second half to give them a bit more rest."
Ye said: "It went okay. I always feel very tired at the beginning of a competition, it is always very hard. I didn't even reach my personal best."