Tokyo Olympics swimming trials: Incredible Ariarne Titmus narrowly misses longstanding record
Ariarne Titmus has done something only one swimmer before her has ever managed - but the Aussie did it “legally”.
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Tokyo just can’t come soon enough for Australia’s super swimmers.
After waiting another whole extra year, Kaylee McKeown and Ariarne Titmus have sent a message to the world that they are going for gold and won’t let anyone get in their way.
In 24 hours, they have both stormed to the top of the world rankings in two events each — and they’re not finished yet.
After breaking the 100m backstroke world record on Sunday, McKeown won the 200m individual medley on Monday but not to be outdone — Titmus then went did something even more extraordinary.
A day after she came within a fingernail of breaking Katie Ledecky’s seemingly untouchable 400m freestyle world record, the “Terminator’ stunned everyone by getting within a whisker of the 200m world record when she won the Australian final in 1:53.09.
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That is the second fastest time in history but it really should be the world record because the only person who has gone quicker is Italian Federica Pellegrini — who went 1:52.98 in 2009 wearing one of the now-banned super suits.
Titmus is now a red-hot gold medal favourite in three events, including the 4x200m relay, and has warning for her rivals: she expects to go even faster in Tokyo.
“I think that I‘m a racer and with the Olympics around the corner, I’m sure that I hopefully lift for an Olympic Games.
“I know it‘s a very high pressure situation here to make the team. And that’s why I think the swims have been so fast but I hope that I can lift up the Games.”
Emma McKeon finished second in 1:54.74 — also a world class time — to qualify for her second event in Tokyo after winning the 100m butterfly on Saturday.
She will team up with Titmus in the 4x200m relay, which now looks unbeatable with the top six Australians — including Madi Wilson, Leah Neale, Meg Harris and Mollie O’Callaghan — all posting times fast enough to get into the 200m final at the last world championships.
“I think we‘ve got a really strong team among all the events now,” McKeon said.
MEN’S 800M FREESTYLE
Jack McLoughlin sealed his place in his second event at Tokyo with an easy win in the 800m freestyle, which is being held for men at the Olympics for the first time.
McLoughlin — who finished second in the 400m — came first in a smart time of 8:42.51.
Queensland teenager Tommy Neill was second in 7:48.97, just outside the Australian qualifying time, but he could still swim the event if he makes the team in any other events as he made the Olympic time, which is easier than the Australian standard.
Mack Horton finished fifth after coming third in the 400m and sixth in the 200m. The Rio 400m champion is now relying on the selectors picking him for the 4x200m relay.
WOMEN’S 200M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY FINAL
There was no world record this time, but Queensland teenage sensation Kaylee McKeown has still booked herself a second swim at next month’s Tokyo Olympics with another blistering win at the Australian trials.
The 19-year-old coasted to victory in the 200 individual medley final in Adelaide in a time of 2:08.19, more than two seconds under the tough qualifying standard.
Her victory came 24 hours after she smashed the 100m backstroke world record to head into Japan as the favourite to win gold in that event but she is also a strong contender in the 200m medley.
Although she was almost two seconds outside Katinka Hosszu’s world record of 2:06.12, McKeown’s time was still the best by anyone in the world since August 2019 and she admits she’s still trying to work out the best way to swim the multi-stroke race.
“I definitely need to improve on my turns a lot more,” she said.
“I noticed in myself I was taking a bit of a breather on the wall, but there‘s no complaints. I went the qualifying time and it was a small PB (personal best) so I can’t ask for much more.”
She wasn’t making any excuses but she did admit that she hardly slept a wink after her stunning world record the night before.
She lost count of how many congratulatory messages she got but did reveal one of them was from Regan Smith, the American whose world record she broke on Sunday night.
“Yes, she messaged me again. I said ‘all the best for her US trials’, no doubt they’ll be very fast over there. I’m all for supporting our teammates, even if they’re from other countries,” McKeown said.
“My phone charge went pretty flat, pretty quick. I just did the best I could.
“Recovery wise, I was trying to get to sleep but I couldn‘t. I think it was just the adrenaline was still pumping but to come up and get into the finals tonight was pretty amazing.
“I went to bed about 1.30 and woke up at 6am so no complaints there, I still got about five hours.
“That‘s probably the toughest thing I had to overcome this morning. There was a lot of fatigue and I just looked at (coach Chris) Mooney and said ’I don’t know how this is going to go this morning’ but he’s really good, he understands, he just said ’give it your best shot, there’s no pressure.“
Tessa Wallace finished second in the 200m medley but her time of 2:11.79 was outside the Olympic qualifying time.
MEN’S 200M BUTTERFLY FINAL
Matthew Temple vindicated his decision to pull out of Sunday’s 200m freestyle final when he sealed his place at Tokyo in the 200m butterfly.
In a tight finish where the top three finishers all went under the Olympic qualifying time, Temple just got his hands on the wall first in 1:55.25.
David Morgan, who won a bronze medal in the medley relay at Rio in 2016, came second in 1:55.40 to qualify for his second Olympics while Bowen Gough just missed out, finishing third in 1:55.88.
A former scaffolder, Temple qualified for Sunday’s 200m freestyle final but pulled out to focus on the butterfly, allowing Mack Horton to take his spot.
“I’m really stoked with that time,” Temple said. “It definitely paid off.”
MONDAY’S QUALIFIERS
WOMEN’S 200M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY
Olympic Qualifying time: 2:10.49
1st Kaylee McKeown 2:08.19 - qualified
2nd Tessa Wallace 2:11.79 - tbd
MEN’S 200M BUTTERFLY
Olympic Qualifying time: 1:56.25
1st Matthew Temple 1:55.25 - qualified
2nd David Morgan 1:55.40- qualified
WOMEN’S 200M FREESTYLE
Olympic Qualifying time: 1:56.82
1st Ariarne Titmus 1:53.09 - qualified
2nd Emma McKeon 1:54.74 - qualified
MEN’S 800M FREESTYLE
Olympic Qualifying time: 7:48.12
1st Jack McLoughlin 7:42.51 - qualified
2nd Tmomy Neil 7:48.97 - tbd
PARALYMPIC TRIALS QUALIFIERS
MEN’S 150M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY MULTI-CLASS
Grant Patterson (SM3)
Ahmed Kelly (SM3)
WOMEN’S 200M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY MULTI-CLASS
Jasmine Greenwood (S10)
MEN’S 200M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY MULTI-CLASS
Jesse Aungles (S8)
Tim Hodge (S9)
FULL DAY TWO RECAP
Mack Horton faces an anxious wait before finding out whether he will be on the Dolphins team for next month’s Tokyo Olympics after finishing out of the placings in Sunday’s 200m freestyle final at the Australian trials.
But the odds are now strongly in his favour that he will be picked for the team even though he was unable to finish in the top two to be guaranteed an individual swim after finishing third in Saturday’s 400m freestyle final.
Kyle Chalmers, the 100m gold medallist from the 2016 Rio Olympics, won a pulsating final in 1:45.48, just ahead of rising superstar Elijah Winnington (1:45.55), who won the 400m the night before.
Teenager Thomas Neill came third and Alexander Graham fourth — with the top four all going under the qualifying time set by the Australian selectors — which is the equivalent of finishing top eight at the last world championships.
“The 100m is my main event but being a part of that relay team is probably the best thing I can look forward to in Tokyo,” Chalmers said.
“Racing relays and obviously the 4x200m now, the majority of the guys are what I’d call best mates.”
Horton finished sixth but has a good chance of still being selected for the Australian 4x200m relay, which won gold at the 2019 world championships and is a strong contender for Tokyo.
The top four finishers are virtually assured of selection but the national selectors will want to pick extras so that swimmers with heavy programs can skip the heats.
The fact Horton is event contention is a testimony to his amazing powers of recovery.
The 400m gold medallist at Rio, he’s been off form this season and was in danger of missing the 200m final — which would have killed his chances of making the team — after he qualified ninth in a heat time of 1:47.54.
He was thrown a lifeline when Zac Incerti was initially disqualified for supposedly moving on the blocks but Incerti appealed and was reinstated. He eventually finished fifth.
“I was devastated this morning when it came up DQ for Zac Incerti, who is one of my very best friends, we stay in contact almost daily,” Chalmers said.
“To see him back in the final tonight it gave me that boost knowing he’d be in the marshalling room with me.”
When Matt Temple withdrew from the final, Horton got his spot, and he rattled home from last with a lap to go to finish sixth to remind the selectors of what he can do.
Meanwhile, the former world champion Mitch Larkin won the men’s 100m backstroke in 53.40 — hitting the exact same time needed to qualify for the Australian team, though he was well off his best and his time in the morning heats.
“It was one of those swims you come away scratching your head. I looked at my swim this morning and everything was promising. I thought I was in a good position to swim a 52,” Larkin said.
“I think I just wanted it and forced things too much. Now I‘m on the team I can let things flow naturally.”
Larkin finished just a fingernail in front of Isaac Cooper, who is just 17. Cooper touched in 53.49, inside the official qualifying time but not good enough for the Australian team, though he may yet go as a reserve swimmer.
TITMUS SENDS LOUD WARNING TO US SUPERSTAR
Ariarne Titmus sent a thunderous message to United States superstar Katie Ledecky that should shock the whole swimming world.
The Aussie they call the Terminator has let the American they call the GOAT know she is in for the fight of her life at next month’s Tokyo Olympics after unleashing a stunning performance at the Australian trials on Sunday.
Titmus — still recovering from a shoulder problem — unleashed the second fastest 400m freestyle time in history when she touched the wall in 3:56.90.
Ledecky is the only woman to have gone faster — when she set the world record of 3:56.46 — but that was five years ago at the Rio Olympics, and until now that was considered untouchable, even by Ledecky herself.
“I honestly didn‘t think I’d go that fast. The way I’ve been training, I’d be happy to get to my PB (personal best) and hope that I can get a little bit more in Tokyo but I guess it just goes to show, you know, the adrenaline, the pressure and what it brings,” Titmus said,
“I was probably the most nervous I‘ve been, even though I knew I didn’t really have much to worry about. I knew if I just did what I had to do, to be on the team.
“I almost started crying just sitting there and I don’t even know why but obviously the Olympics is just like the pinnacle. It’s the one thing that I haven’t been able to do.
“It‘s been a long wait and I’m very happy that when people ask me, when are you going? I can now say, ’well I’m on the team now.’ I’m just so sick of saying I have to qualify first so I’m happy that I’ve done that now.”
Titmus famously beat Ledecky at the 2019 world championships in South Korea but the American later claimed she was sick and not at her best.
Ledecky says she is now back at her peak and there are no excuses and Titmus said she was looking forward to the rematch.
“Well, she‘s not going to have it all the way, I guess,” Titmus said.
“I can‘t control what she does. I can only control myself. And if I do the best I can and put myself in that position to win a gold medal, I know it’s going to be a tough race.”
Ledecky’s trash-talking teammate Lilly King has added even more fuel to the brewing row between the US and Australian teams by brashly predicting the Americans could win every gold medal in swimming in Tokyo.
But after Queensland teenager Kaylee McKeown smashed American Regan Smith’s 100m backstroke world record on Sunday night, Titmus said King might want to rethink her cocky prediction.
“I think that‘s the backstroke gone. And I think that we have chances in a lot of other events,” Titmus said.
“I think that the Olympics is going to be not all Americans, but I feel like there‘s going to be other countries coming through.
“I think we‘re definitely going to be in the mix because we’ve got a pretty strong team.”
MEN’S 100M BACKSTROKE
Australian record holder Mitch Larkin held on by the skin of his teeth to qualify for his third Olympics.
The former world champion won the men’s 100m backstroke in 53.40 – the exact same time needed to qualify for the Australian team, but only after a tight finish.
He finished just a fingernail in front of Isaac Cooper, who is just 17. Cooper touched in 53.49, just outside qualifying.
WOMEN’S 100M BREASTSTROKE
Queensland teenager Chelsea Hodges booked her place on the team to Tokyo with a stunning win.
Just 19, Hodges won in a time of 1:05.99 – almost a second inside the required qualifying standard.
Hodges will be joined on the team by Jessica Hansen, who finished second in 1:06.69.
WOMEN’S 100M BACKSTROKE
Australian swimming’s newest teenage sensation Kaylee McKeown has stamped herself as the favourite for Olympic gold in Tokyo next month after smashing the 100m backstroke world record.
The 19-year-old Queenslander stormed to victory at the Australian trials in a super fast 57.45 seconds — wiping 0.12 off the old record set by American Regan Smith at the 2019 world championships in South Korea.
“We’ve been revving up for a whole year so to finally get myself onto the Olympic team, it’s a dream come true, it really is,” she said.
“I guess with Covid and the passing of my dad in August last year, it’s been a huge, huge build up to these trials. And I have turned into a bit of a hunger and motivation behind can I use it every day that I wake up.
“I know it’s a privilege to be on this Earth and walk and talk so to get up and do that tonight was, not only for me, but my family and USC (University of Sunshine Coast) and all the support staff as well.
“(My coach Chris Mooney) He did say something to me before I got in the warm up. He was like, I believe in you. And I think I knew and he knew at that time that it was go-time.
“He knew something special was about to happen. I may not have known it, but I was just trying to keep the nerves down as much as I could.
“I wouldn’t say it was a goal to break the world record), I’m more of a process orientated person than times and it just so happened that I nailed all those little pinpoints that we were going for.”
MEN’S 200M FREESTYLE
Mack Horton faces an anxious wait before finding out whether he will be on the Dolphins team for next month’s Tokyo Olympics after finishing out of the placings in Sunday’s 200m freestyle final at the Australian trials on Sunday.
Horton needed to finish in the top two to be guaranteed an individual swim after finishing third in Saturday’s 400m freestyle final but could only manage sixth place.
Kyle Chalmers, the 100m gold medallist in Rio, won the final in 1min45.48sec, just ahead of Elijah Winninton (1min45.55sec), who won the 400m.
Thomas Neill was third and Alexander Graham fourth — with the top four all going under the qualifying time.
SELECTION RULES
There are a total of 35 swimming events at the Tokyo Olympics, not including open-water.
These comprise 14 individual races and three relays for both men and women, plus a mixed medley relay.
Australia can enter up to two swimmers in each individual event as well as one team in each of the seven relays.
Under the rules, Australian can select a maximum number of 28 male and 28 female swimmers for Tokyo, including up to 12 relay-only swimmers.
To be selected for an individual event, swimmers need to finish first or second at the trials and meet the qualifying standards set by Swimming Australia – which are equivalent to the time that was needed to make the final at the 2019 world championships.
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