Titmus Rattles Her WR With 3:55.44 Storm On Opening Night At Australian Olympic Trials
Ariarne Titmus gave her own World record a fright with a 3:55.44 victory in the 400m freestyle on the opening night of finals at the Australian Olympic Trials in Brisbane that also witnessed Paris-ticket stamping victories for Kaylee McKeown, Sam Williamson and queen of Tokyo2020ne Emma McKeon.
The Olympic and twice World 400m champion got the trials off to a speedy start through splits of 56.53; 1:56.45 and 2:56.23 before a closing 100m of 59.21. That missed her global mark by 0.06sec but swept her 0.96sec inside the Australian all-comer’s record she established in 2022.
The podium raced inside the Paris qualifying time of 4:04.98, Lani Pallister grabbing the second ticket to the Paris race just shy of her career best, in 4:02.27. Jamie Perkins, Titmus’ 19-year-old training partner, took third in 4:04.38.
Also On day 1: McKeown 2:06.63 Commonwealth 200IM Mark Confirms Dolphin A Flip For Paris Gold
Additional reporting by Nicole Jefferey in Brisbane
Titmus, 23 and coached by Dean Boxall at St Peters Western, set the pioneering global pace at 3:55.38 to claim the 2023 World title in Fukuoka in a highly anticipated race with two others who had held the global standard, Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh.
What Arnie Titmus Had To Say When She Emerged From The Fray:
Titmus and other mega 400 splits compared:
56.53; 1:56.45; 2:56.23; 3:55.44 – Titmus, today in Brisbane
56.92; 1:56.94; 2:56.90; 3:55.38 WR – Titmus, Fukuoka 2023 World Title
56.46; 1:55.91; 2:55.84; 3:56.08 WR – McIntosh, Toronto 2023
57.13; 1:56.99; 2:57.37; – 3:56.40 WR – Titmus, Adelaide 2022
57.05; 1:57.11; 2:57.62 – 3:56.46 WR– Ledecky, Rio 2016 Olympic Gold
In Fukuoka, Ledecky, USA, took silver, McIntosh pipped for the bronze by New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather at the start of what turned out to be a stellar week for the teenage Canadian, who retains the 200m butterfly and 400m medley titles, the latter in world-record time.
Meanwhile, for Pallister, a weight has been lifted. She’s on the team, with her best events ahead of her, in the 800 and 1500m freestyle. She told media in Brisbane:
Honestly, I feel like you can’t really put it into words. When I finally saw my mom (former international Janelle Elford) I cried a little bit. When Ellie told me that I’m gonna become an Olympian, I cried. So yeah, going from three years ago where I quit swimming to now where I get to go to my first Olympics, it’s just incredible. Every day for the past three years, me and my Mum talked about it and talked about the experience she had in 1988, so just getting an opportunity to experience something that she did too is just exciting.
Lani Pallister – Photo: when Janelle Elford and her daughter Lani Pallister shared one of many laughs with Olympic legend Dawn Fraser a couple of years back, by Delly Carr, courtesy of Swimming Australia
Lani was asked ‘who’s more tearful, you or your Mum? “It could be my dad (former surf ironman Rick Pallister),” she replied. “. “Could be any one of us. I think Mom has to keep a little bit more composed because she has to coach at the same time.”
She added: “If you had have told me three years ago that I’d be standing here, I wouldn’t have believed you. I’m not super-stoked with the time but I guess just qualifying is really important. I pulled up with a head cold three days ago. So honestly, just getting through it, and putting my foot one step in the door and now being on the plane is really exciting.”
On lessons from trials for Tokyo three years ago that paid dividends today, Lani said:
“That eating is really important, in the most serious way possible. I still can’t believe that I thought that having one maybe two meals a day was gonna allow me to be an athlete. I think just getting in every day and not putting pressure on a time or a result, just really doing everything you can to be the best that you can be is another thing and then really just enjoying the journey more than anything has been the greatest thing I’ve learned and the people around me are just amazing.”
Lani Pallister – photo by Delly Carr, courtesy of Swimming Australia
Brisbane Results in full / Event Page
In other finals:
Williamson Clocks 58.80 All-Comers For Paris Ticket, Yong Also Inside Cut
Sam Williamson cracked the 59sec mark for the first time in morning heats as the third Australian ever to go down that way over 100m breaststroke and then backed up with an all-comers record off 58.80 that shaved 0.04sec off the mark a certain Adam Peaty clocked for the 2018 Commonwealth title any Gold Coast 2018.
Peaty’s 2019 World mark of 56.88 was in no danger this day but Williamson, of Melbourne Vicentre, capitalised well on his morning 58.95 with a lifetime best of 58.80 off a 26.89 split that knocked the rest for six down the opening lap.
Rivals racing for the second ticket to Paris narrowed the gap but none could catch Williamson and his 31.91 return, Joshua Yong (28.28, 59.48) the only other inside the Paris cut, with Olympic 200m champion Zac Stubblety-Cook locked out in 59.63 (off 28.56 at the turn).
Williamson, just 0.22sec shy of the Australian record held by Brenton Rickard since the last season of shiny suits in 2009, said:
“I still remember the 2016 trials, I was 17th, so I missed out on getting a night swim and then for Tokyo trials three years ago, missing out on the team, so to come away with that swim, I’ve been practicing. That’s what we’ve been practicing, it’s what we’ve been hoping to execute, so to actually be able to execute under that pressure just puts me in a really good spot moving forward.”
Sam Williamson celebrates victory at Olympic trials in Brisbane – photo b y Delly Carr, courtesy of Swimming Austrralia
World 50m champion in Doha in February, Williamson was asked how much work he’d put into the second 50 in the 100. He replied: “It’s been years. It’s been years it hasn’t been something I’ve thought about over the last few months.
“It’s definitely been something I’ve been slowly chipping away at over the last few years. So to finally get it right, it’s pretty exciting. We’ve got six weeks of work, six weeks to try and get it right, because it’s not a slow time by any stretch of the imagination, but knowing what some of those guys are throwing down in the rest of the world, there’s still a lot of work we can do.”
In Other Finals:
McKeown 2:06.63 Commonwealth 200IM Mark Confirms Dolphin A Flip For Paris Gold
McKeon Back On Dolphin Duty Asa Sole Qualifier In 100 ‘Fly
Emma McKeon booked a ticket to her third Olympic Games with a 56.85 in a nervy 100m butterfly final with solo and relay berths at stake but just Ione qualifier inside the 57.17 target time, with five one on 57s in a range of 0.66.
Alexandra Perkins was closest, on 57.33, with Brianna Throssell, third in 57.42, neither with a ticket to Paris this day. McKeon knows that feeling: she missed London 2012 after finishing one place shy of a relay berth in the 4x100m free in 100m free paradise at the age of 17.
Four years on, she claimed a relay gold and three silvers (one of which was earned in the 200m free) in Rio in what proved to be a warm-up for the biggest medal haul by a woman in the Olympic pool: her seven medals in Tokyo included four gold and three bronzes.
Today, she was more than a second outside her Australian record of 55.72 as Olympic bronze medallist in 2021, but the job was done.
Asked how important it was to have stamped a ticket on day 1, she told Nicole Jeffery in Brisbane: “It definitely takes that little bit of added pressure off, I think, knowing I’m going to Paris now. So you know, I’ve been looking forward to that for three years. It’s just nice to get it out of the way and be on that team.
Was it a weapon you can use in the sprints when there’s going to be people who haven’t qualified? “I think so. The pressure is always on at the Olympic trials. It’s just crazy. So everyone’s always going to be very nervous. I’m glad I’ve got my first one out of the way.”
It may seem strange to some to think of a high achiever as someone who gets nervous and yet, like so many others, she n to only was but wanted to be: “I want to be nervous. If I wasn’t nervous, I don’t know why I’d be here. I wouldn’t care. It shows me I care, it shows me I’m ready and gets that adrenaline going for the week.”
Four medals at a debut Games, seven as the follow-up. How to remain. motivated? Had it been hard to get up for another Olympics when she’d been so successful?
“No, definitely not,” said Emma. “Mckeon. “The Olympics is you know, everything I’ve loved and dreamt of and watch since I was a little girl. So it’s definitely not hard to motivate myself when there’s an Olympics there.”
She felt “pretty well” positioned for Paris. “, “I think we’ll see how the end of the week goes but my training has been going well, particularly my ‘fly training. So tonight’s time definitely wasn’t reflective of that, but I think you know, just getting myself on the team is what I’m here to do.”