(Brisbane) Australian Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus set a new world record in the 200m freestyle in 1:52.23/100 on Wednesday in Brisbane, just weeks before the start of the Paris Games.
At the Australian Olympic trials, Titmus beat Mollie O’Callaghan, credited with a time of 1:52.48, also better than the previous world record she held (1:52.85).
“When I look at the results, it’s incredible. I’m really happy to finally be able to swim in a way that reflects my training,” commented Ariarne Titmus, 23, after her race.
“I think the competitors we have are why we swim so fast. We push each other every day. To have five girls training with Dean (Boxal) in this final is incredible,” she said.
Titmus won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021, notably beating American champion Katie Ledecky.
She will appear as the big favorite in the discipline for the Paris Olympic Games, like Mollie O’Callaghan, who last year beat Federica Pellegrini’s 14-year-old world record.
Both swimmers have now achieved 8 of the 10 best performances in history.
Canadian Summer McIntosh is the only other swimmer to go under 1:54 for the distance this year.
