Tasmania's golden girl Ariarne Titmus has done it yet again.
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The 18-year-old Tasmanian-turned-Queenslander now has a world record to her name after combining with Brianna Throssell, Emma McKeon and Madison Wilson to bring home the 4x200m freestyle relay at the swimming world championships in Gwangju, South Korea.
Eclipsing China's 2009 world record by 0.58 of a second, the tremendous swim almost puts an end to the sport's dark days by knocking off a 'shiny' record - one established wearing a now-banned swim suit that was found to gain an advantage.
Titmus got the Australians off to a flying start, swimming the fastest split of this race (1:54.27) and keeping American Simone Manuel at bay to establish a slender lead for her team-mates to hang onto.
TITMUS FEVER
A blistering second leg from American Katie Ledecky, whose meet looked over after withdrawing from the 1500m and 200m freestyle events, pulled the US back in the lead and brought a fitting narrative to the back-and-forth encounter.
Throssell's leg dragged the Australians within striking distance but it was McKeon, the side's anchor who brought the race home with a bang in a time marginally slower than Titmus' start (1:54.90).
The win marked the first time since 2011 the Americans hadn't come home with the world championship gold in the discipline and was the inaugural winning of the event for the Australians.
Titmus' father Steve said the competition has been an incredible experience.
"As a parent, to be able to be in the grandstands and enjoy the moment of when one of your children does such an extraordinary thing is a moment in life that you really can not describe," he said.
"It's emotional, it's thrilling, nail-biting and we've been able to experience, this week, moments in our life that will live with us forever."
Experiencing viral success after Ariarne's 2018 silver medal at the Commonwealth Games, Steve's emotions were slightly more intact this time as he watched his daughter glide to success.
"We were pretty relaxed about this one because we knew the Aussie girls were going to go well and that they had a really, really good chance at winning it.
"To actually come out of it with a world record is just astounding.
"We knew because Arnie and Emma [McKeon] had been able to rest in the morning which was the key to it so we knew they would swim fast and that the Americans would have to be at the absolute best to knock us off."
The proud father believes this meet has truly reignited swimming and one of its prominent rivalries - Australia and the United States.
"We had it years ago and now this has all been completely reignited and Tokyo 2020, we can't wait to get there.
"It's going to be an absolutely incredible meet. The line has been drawn in the sand for a massive showdown between Australia and the United States in Tokyo."
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