Launceston teenager Ariarne Titmus drew high praise from a couple of Australian Olympic champions as she announced herself to the swimming world.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The former Riverside and Launceston Aquatic member twice swam a personal best of 4:04.26 to finish fourth in the 400-metre freestyle on the opening night of the FINA world championships in Budapest.
The Queensland-based 16-year-old’s performance impressed Ian Thorpe and Leisel Jones who were both commentating for Channel Seven.
Triple Olympic champ Jones called Titmus “phenomenal” and joined five-time gold medallist Thorpe in praising her maturity.
“She’s got a great head on her shoulders and seems pretty smart,” Jones said.
“She can go out, have a good time, learn as much as she can and be a star at the 2020 Olympic Games.
“For a swimmer to be disciplined is the best skill you can have.”
When Titmus qualified third fastest from the morning heats with a new PB, Thorpe said she was a definite medal prospect. “Given her age it shows the prospect of how much she can continue to improve,” he said.
The former St Patrick’s College student repeated the exact same time in the final but was a second off the podium as world record holder Katie Ledecky (3:58.34) took an expected win from fellow American Leah Smith (4:01.54) and China’s Bingjie Li (4:03.25).
The time was enough to move Titmus into fourth place on the Australian all-time top ten for the event and prompted Swimming Australia to declare: “Australia may have just unearthed a future superstar in the form of a fearless 16-year-old from Tasmania.”
“It was really fun,” said Titmus, who is coached by Dean Boxall at St Peters Western.
“l did what Dean said and just had fun, I really enjoyed it, it was great with the crowd and everything.
“I did want to go a bit faster, but I think having to push the heats this morning a lot harder than I’m used to kind of took it out of me.
“But that’s a really good learning experience and I’ve got to get used to doing that when I’m racing the best in the world so I can learn a lot from it.”
Titmus was watched by parents Steve and Robyn, sister Mia, and grandparents in the Hungarian capital.
She will also race the 200 and 800m freestyles this week.
Rob Shaw
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
Heralding the impact of Tasmanian sport without saying "punching above its weight" is not as easy as it sounds.
