Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus breaks 200-meter freestyle world record

By George Ramsay, CNN

(CNN) — Ariarne Titmus broke the 200-meter freestyle world record at Australia’s Olympic swimming trials on Wednesday, getting the better of compatriot and teammate Mollie O’Callaghan in a thrilling race.

It was so fast that O’Callaghan, who was the world record holder before Wednesday’s race, also beat her previous landmark time.

Titmus, the reigning Olympic champion in the 200m and 400m freestyle, clocked a time of 1:52.23 at the trials in Brisbane, just over half a second faster than O’Callaghan’s world record of 1:52.85, which she set at last year’s world championships.

The 23-year-old Titmus finished marginally ahead of O’Callaghan, whose second-place time of 1:52.48 was also good enough to beat her old word record.

“Looking at the results, that’s unbelievable,” Titmus said after the race, according to Reuters. “I’m just happy to finally produce a swim in the 200 that I feel like my training reflects.

“The field that we have is why we’re swimming so fast, we push each other every day.”

Titmus and 20-year-old O’Callaghan train alongside each other at St Peters Western Swim Club under the guidance of coach Dean Boxall.

The pair will continue their rivalry in the pool at this year’s Olympics in Paris, which get underway on July 26.

O’Callaghan took the 100m and 200m freestyle titles at the world championships last year in Fukuoka, Japan, finishing ahead of Titmus in the 200m final.

After her performance on Wednesday, Titmus is set to own the 200m and 400m freestyle world records once the former has been ratified.

The-CNN-Wire
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