Ariarn Titmus wins the 200m freestyle at the Australian Championships

It’s a small sensation in Australia. Two-time Tokyo Olympic champion Ariarn Titmus lost in the 200m freestyle final, beaten by Molly O’Callaghan at the Australian Swimming Championships on Thursday in the Gold Coast. At age 19, O’Callaghan, the 100-meter world champion in 2022, won the 1’55” 15 ahead of Titmus, who has already won national titles in the 400-meter and 800-meter freestyle.

Only the young Canadian star Summer Mackintosh (16 years old) and the American Katie Ledecky were the fastest this year in the 200 freestyle race. “I’m happy with my time, but I wish it was a lot fastersaid the swimmer after her race. “I felt like dead at the end, I’m not going to lie. I didn’t have legs.”“.

Chalmers, still president

On Monday, Molly O’Callaghan actually beat Emma McKeown, the gold medalist in Tokyo, in the 100m freestyle, pulling off the best performance of the year over the distance. Shayna Jack finished third ahead of Kylie McKeown, who this year surrendered the meet in the 200m backstroke in which she holds the world record. On the men’s side, Kyle Chalmers, who finished second to great American rival Caleb Dressel in Tokyo after winning gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, showed he was still in the game in the 100m with a time of 48 seconds. He beat young Kay Taylor (200m) and Flynn Southam.

“The most important thing for me is team success, before individual success, so with these guys with me (on the podium), I think we’ll do something special next year (at the Paris Olympics) in the relaySaid Chalmers. In other events, Samuel Williamson won the 50m breaststroke (27.48), while bronze medalist Brendon Smith won the 400m medley (4’16″37).

The best Australian swimmers will return to the pools in June in Melbourne for the qualifiers for the World Championships, which will be held in Fukuoka (Japan) a month later.