Titmus Says 800 A Work In Progress After 8:14, Pallister On 8:18, Both With A Ticket To Paris
Ariarne Titmus frowned at the scoreboard when she clocked the “disappointing” numbers: 8:14.06 on day four of Australian trials, a 3:55 world-record rattler in the 400m free and a scorching 1:52.23 200m free behind her.
Titmus Rattles Her WR With 3:55.44 Storm On Opening Night At Australian Olympic Trials
Emerging from her third solo ticket to the Paris Olympic Games, the 23-year-old said: “I’m disappointed with the time, I know I’m better than that but at least I get the chance to do it again at the Olympics. At the end of the day, I did my job this week, I’ve got all the races I want to perform in Paris.”
Additional reporting from Nicole Jeffery in Brisbane
Where Titmus was just half a second shy of the Australian record she established when claiming Olympic silver behind American Katie Ledecky at Tokyo2020ne, Lani Pallister‘s 8:18.46, while easily good enough for the second Paris ticket in the race, was 3.5sec down in her career high and too far adrift Titmus for the winner “to lift and get that adrenaline boost” and be at the best she’d thought possible today given the sensational form she has shown in the shorter races.
Titmus blew the opposition away from the go as she sped through this flow:
57.49; 1:58.41; 3:00.13; 4:02.56; 5:05.19; 6:08.45; 7:12.25; 8:14.06 (ending with a 30.34 last length)
Brisbane Results in full / Event Page
That 4:02 at 400 was followed by a 1:02 split before the pace fell off. That 4:02 was fascinating: In Tokyo three years ago, Ledecky split 4:04.70 on the way to an 8:12.57 victory ahead of Titmus on 8:13.59. Titmus split 4:05.92. Asked about the half-way pace today, she said: “That’s good – at least I put myself out there, I gave myself a chance. I just really lost my legs. In the form that I’m in, I truly thought I had a chance of swimming a great 800 and doing a PB.
“It’s an event that’s really hard to pace well and get right. It’s very similar to a 400 but longer, it’s not an endurance event really. You’ve got to be very fast to swim an 800 well. I’m disappointed with the time, I know I’m better than that but at least I get the chance to do it again at the Olympics.
“But you know, you’ve got to take the little wins. I have now five or so weeks to get back to work and fix a few things. I’ll look at my splits and see what happened. But yeah, I’m not happy with the back half of the race.”
Shy of race analysis with her coach Dean Boxall, she explained:
“I’m happy with how I’ve swum in the 400 and the 200, and it’s sometimes hard to lift and get that adrenaline boost in these environments when I’m out there on my own, knowing I’m going to book my ticket and there’s not really any external motivation that’s going to give me that adrenaline boost. But I’m excited to see when that comes in at the Olympics, what I can do with that. But at the end of the day, I did my job this week. I’ve got all the races I want to perform in Paris.
“The 800 is a race that I’m trying to enjoy more. I definitely enjoy racing the 400 and the 200 more than 800 and I think enjoyment is a big part of it as well. enjoying the process, training for the event and enjoying the process racing the event. I definitely don’t enjoy it as much as the other two but I think when there’s medals on the line at the Olympics, that should be enough to get me through.”
Ariarne Titmus – photo by Patrick B. Kraemer
U.S. Trials get underway at the weekend.
Meanwhile, Australia, in common with many other nations, struggles to find depth in some events, particularly distance events even at a time when it’s a world leader. Shane Gould would have finished 9th today over 800m with her 1971 World record. Would ninth place behind Gould in 1971 have taken a time that dated back to the beginning of the 800m world record, Getrude Ederle the holder in 13.19.0. So the answer is no.
Which reminds us all to go and watch Disney’s “Young Woman and the Sea”, the story of Ederle’s pioneering swim across the English Channel in a record time faster than any bloke had crossed in.
Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, Britain’s 200m medley ace and Olympic silver medalist in 2016, guided actress Daisy Ridley in the art of swimming like a swimmer swims: