Australian Champs, Day Three Prelims: Ariarne Titmus Chasing ‘Perfect Race’ With Paris on Horizon

Ariarne Titmus of Australia competes in the 400m Freestyle Women Heats during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 23rd, 2023. Ariarne Titmus placed 2nd.

Australian Champs, Day Three Prelims: Ariarne Titmus Chasing ‘Perfect Race’ With Paris on Horizon

By Nicole Jeffery

Olympic champion and world record-holder Ariarne Titmus may be “in hibernation from life’’ but she is maintaining a laser-like focus on her preparation to defend her Olympic titles in Paris.

Her “perfect race”, the 400m freestyle, is uppermost in her mind.

Titmus cruised through to the 400m freestyle final at the Australian Open Championships today, winning the opening heat, but she will face a sterner test from the ambitious Lani Pallister for the title later today.

World short-course champion Pallister (Griffith University, QLD, coach Michael Bohl) was the fastest qualifier for the final in 4:06.45, marginally ahead of Titmus’ 4:06.52, setting up an enticing duel in the final.

Titmus (St Peters Western, QLD, coach Dean Boxall ) described her current devotion to training as “all-consuming” as she spends ten hours a day at her training pool in Brisbane.

But she already feels better prepared for the Olympics than she did in Tokyo three years ago.

“I have a lot more experience now,’’ she said. “ I feel like I know what I’m doing a lot more going into this… but at the same time, I think there’s a lot more eyes on me. I think people outside of swimming are expecting me to win now, which is a whole different thing to manage, but I think I’m pretty good at letting that go.”

Commonwealth Games representative Ben Armbruster (BOND, QLD, coach Chris Mooney)) emerged as the fastest qualifier of the hotly-contested 50m freestyle heats, clocking 22.09, just .01 faster than South Korea’s Ji Yuchan (22.10), with Thomas Nowakowski (22.20, USC Spartans) third quickest.

2023 world champion Cam McEvoy (Somerville House, QLD) was not happy with his opening effort but will have the chance to make amends in the final after qualifying fourth fastest (22.24), just ahead of Kyle Chalmers (22.30), representing his new club St Andrews after moving to Queensland last month to train with coach Ash Delaney.

Chalmers elected not to back up in the 100m butterfly preliminaries, just two events later, as his former training partner in Adelaide Matt Temple (Marion, SA) set the standard in 51.67.

Shaun Champion (51.82, Abbotsleigh, NSW) and Armbruster (51.88) were the other men under 52 seconds. Popstar-turned-Olympic hopeful Cody Simpson (Griffith University, QLD) qualified fourth fastest in 52.36.

Triple Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University, QLD) began her bid for a third national title of the week by setting the pace in the 50m backstroke heats in 27.32, setting up an intriguing race with freestyle sprint queen Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western, QLD), who qualified in 27.45.

McKeown has set national records in the 200m and 400m individual medley already this week and may well complete the treble tonight if pressed by O’Callaghan.

2022 World Championships silver medallist Jenna Strauch (Miami, QLD, coach Richard Scarce) continues to make a strong return from the knee injury which ruled her out of last year’s world championships, qualifying fastest in her pet event, the 200m breaststroke in 2:24.76.

Strauch will be looking to complete the breaststroke sweep tonight, having won both the 50m (31.04sec) and 100m (1:07.37) already this week. She led Tara Kinder (2:27.56) and Matilda Smith (2:28.46) through to the 200m final as the next fastest qualifiers.

The other heat winners were Abbey Harkin (St Peters Western, QLD) in 2:28.75 and teenager Ella Ramsay (Chandler, QLD) in 2:30.22.

World 400m individual medley champion Lewis Clareburt of New Zealand has crossed the Tasman Sea in search of competition and qualified second fastest for tonight’s 200m individual medley final, winning the opening heat in 2:01.11.

The top qualifier was 19-year-old William Petric (Nunawading, VIC) in 2:00.35, with 22-year-old Se-Bom Lee (SOPAC, NSW) also among the top three (2:02.44). Olympic 200m breaststroke champion Zac Stubblety-Cook (Chandler, QLD, coach Vince Raleigh) made a guest appearance and qualified equal 5^th in 2:03.49.

Visitors set the pace in the men’s 100m backstroke and women’s 50m butterfly preliminaries.

South Korea’s Lee Juho was the fastest qualifier in the 100m backstroke in 54.44sec, well clear of 19-year-old Thomas Henderson (55.25), current national champion Brad Woodward (55.26) and former world champion Mitch Larkin (55.61).

Japan’s Rikako Ikee, fresh from a training stint with coach Michael Bohl at Griffith University, was the top qualifier in the 50m butterfly (25.71), from Alexandra Perkins (26.02), Brianna Throssell (26.08) and Emma McKeon (26.14).

Finals start at 18:00 AEST.

EVENT LINKS:

SWIMMING AUSTRALIA EVENT PAGE

2024 AUSTRALIAN OPEN AND MC RESULTS

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