Australian Mollie O’Callaghan surprised Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus by winning the 200m freestyle with the best performance of the year, to secure a place at Worlds in a very strong field during the trials Australians, Thursday. The young reigning 100m world champion (19 years old) completed a dazzling last 50m to finish in 1’53”83 ahead of Titmus (1’54”14), who had easily won the 400m free at the start of the competition in Melbourne two days earlier.
The two swimmers have completed their ticket for the Fukuoka Worlds (July 23-30, 2023) where they will be the big favorites alongside American Katie Ledecky and young Canadian Summer McIntosh, who previously held the fastest time in the year. “I’m absolutely surprised by this run,” said O’Callaghan, after posting the best run of her career over this distance. “I was so nervous, I was just hoping to get a personal best and try to get into the top two. I am so happy, mad with joy. It bodes well for the world championships and we’ll see what I can do,” she said enthusiastically.
The quality of the competition was such that the first six – with Lani Pallister, Maddie Wilson, Kiah Melverton and Brianna Throssell – achieved the minima for the world meeting in Fukuoka. They will be in the running to claim to compose the formidable Australian 4x200m relay team, holder of the world record.
