Commonwealth Games swimming: Ariarne Titmus, Emma McKeon headline Aussies chasing first-night gold
ARIARNE Titmus and Emma McKeon have set the scene for a cracking showdown in the 200m freestyle on Thursday night as Australia looks to get its Games campaign off to a golden start in the pool.
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ARIARNE Titmus and Emma McKeon have set the scene for a cracking showdown in the 200m freestyle on Thursday night as Australia looks to get its Games campaign off to a golden start in the pool.
Aussies set the fastest qualifying times in four of Thursday morning’s events to set the bar high ahead of the opening medal session at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre.
Titmus qualified fastest through the morning’s heats, just ahead of McKeon, who will swim three events on Thursday night in the heaviest day of her marathon program.
The teen registered a surprise win over world championship silver medallist McKeon at last month’s Games trials and said she would “try and whip out a (personal best) tonight”.
“It was good to go out there and flush the cobwebs out a bit,” Titmus said, admitting she would use the capacity crowd to her advantage.
“The crowd’s amazing.
“I don’t usually hear them when I swim but I heard them so it was really great and it was a bit like Budapest last year a little bit with the crazy atmosphere - but for us - so it was really exciting and I’m excited for tonight.
“I think if you use the crowd smartly it’s go into be an advantage.
“Hopefully tonight I can use that and it’ll help me lift and you’ll have a bit more easy speed in the first 50m with the adrenaline and the atmosphere and try and whip out a PB.”
With a 100m butterfly heat shortly after her 200m freestyle, McKeon was determined to complete an easy heat swim but pushed hard in the final stages to ensure she touched the wall ahead of Canada’s Taylor Ruck.
“It was nice to get that first (swim) out of the way,” McKeon said.
“I was going into that saying, ‘I don’t want to win the heat’ but when I got to the last 5m, I wanted to win it.
“Your competitive instincts kick in. I wanted to conserve myself but I’m still happy.”
She also holds the second-fastest qualifying time heading into Thursday night’s semi-finals of the 100m butterfly.
“I looked at the program this morning and knew where I’d need to be to make it into the semi and that was all I needed to do,” she said.
“It’s about taking one race at a time and also swimming them smart, not spending too much energy.
“This is my hardest day today, so it’ll get easier from here.”
Mack Horton holds the fastest time heading into the 400m final, ahead of Wales’s Daniel Jervis and Australian teammates Jack McLoughlin and David McKeon.
“Everyone was just doing what they had to do, I think to get through to tonight,” Horton said.
In other events, Daniel Fox qualified fastest for the S14 200m freestyle final, while Mitch Larkin touched the wall in 54.02sec to be the top seed into the 100m backstroke semi-finals.
Australia will also line up as favourites for gold in the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay, with the team to be finalised after a swim-off between Shayna Jack and Emily Seebohm.
With no heats for the event, the Australians held a swim-off between Jack and Seebohm after the heats session, while Brianna Throssell was using the time she posted at last month’s trials for consideration.
Originally published as Commonwealth Games swimming: Ariarne Titmus, Emma McKeon headline Aussies chasing first-night gold