When it comes to the sporting highlights of 2019, the BGZ Arena in the Polish city of Pruszkow and the Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Centre in Gwangju, South Korea, might not immediately spring to mind.
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But in Tasmanian terms they are right up there with more usual suspects like the MCG.
Throw in a couple of gritty innings either side of the Pennines in England and from Doha to Kona, Amstelveen to Linz, Tasmanians have been in world-beating form around the globe.
Here's my selection for the top 10 Tasmanian sporting achievements of 2019.
Ledecky beaten
- WHAT: Ariarne Titmus becomes world champion
- WHERE: Nambu University Municipal Aquatics Centre, Gwangju, South Korea
- WHEN: July 21
At the long-course swimming world championships in South Korea, Tasmanian-raised freestyle specialist Ariarne Titmus was both a world champion and a world record holder.
However, arguably the 18-year-old's most significant achievement was in finally defeating her nemesis, the seemingly unbeatable five-time Olympic and 15-time world champion Katie Ledecky.
It not only denied the American a record fourth straight 400-metres crown but inflicted her first defeat over the distance at a major meet since 2013.
In an interview with The Examiner, Titmus has since insisted that if they both perform at their best, Ledecky should still win.
But in a sport contested as much between the ears as the lane ropes, it was the statement made in Gwangju that sounded louder.
Setting two world records only served to pump up the volume even more.
Out of The Ashes
- WHAT: Tim Paine-led Australians retain The Ashes
- WHERE: Old Trafford, Manchester, England
- WHEN: September 8
Individually, Tim Paine did not have a great Ashes series. Just 180 runs from 10 innings at an average of 20.00 with a solitary half-century.
But when Josh Hazlewood trapped Craig Overton lbw on the third ball of the 92nd over in the Fourth Test, it confirmed Australia would be leaving English shores with the cherished urn for the first time since 2001.
Paine had overseen an achievement not even Ricky Ponting - the previous Tasmanian Test captain - had been able to deliver. The 185-run win gave the tourists an unassailable 2-1 lead before England won the last Test to ensure the first drawn series since 1972 - 12 years before Timothy David Paine was born in Hobart.
Polish polish
- WHAT: Amy Cure and Georgia Baker win team pursuit world title
- WHERE: BGZ Arena, Pruszkow, Poland
- WHEN: February 28
Three years after forming half of the Australian team pursuit quartet that literally crashed out of the Rio Olympics, Tasmanians Amy Cure and Georgia Baker provided the same geographical imbalance but a much more satisfying outcome at the 2019 world titles.
Combining with Annette Edmondson, of South Australia, and Ashlee Ankudinoff, of NSW, the team defeated a British quartet including three Olympic champions by just a fifth of a second.
Three days later, the Tasmanians again teamed up in the madison and conceded gold to Dutch duo Kirsten Wild and Amy Pieters by just two points with the Danes a distant third.
Australia has experimented with several madison partnerships but having been given the nod for the biggest race of the year and been under the guidance of former world champion Matthew Gilmore for as long as either could remember, the Tasmanians appear to be in the box saddle for Tokyo.
Gold rediscovery
- WHAT: Sarah Hawe regains rowing world title
- WHERE: Linz Ottensheim, Austria
- WHEN: August 31
Sarah Hawe's world championship record since claiming a place in Australia's women's four crew reads: gold, silver, gold.
The title won with Molly Goodman, Kat Werry and Lucy Stephan in Florida in 2017 was taken from the same crew by America a year later in Bulgaria. Redemption arrived 12 months later and 1400 kilometres away.
With Olympia Aldersley replacing Goodman, the Aussie crew won its heat by more than four seconds, semi-final by three and final by two in a dominant performance in Austria.
Despite not making a senior team until the age of 29, Hawe, 32, of Huon, is among the favourites to end Tasmania's 12-year wait for an Olympic champion - the last coming from another veteran Hobart rower, Scott Brennan.
World series hit
- WHAT: Jake Birtwhistle wins maiden World Triathlon Series race
- WHERE: Roundhay Park, Leeds, England
- WHEN: June 9
"All of a sudden I thought, I don't feel bad any more." With those words, Jake Birtwhistle broke new ground in his triathlon career.
He was recalling the moment in Leeds, when he realised that Henri Schoeman - the South African who denied him Commonwealth Games gold the previous year - could be prevented from repeating the feat.
Birtwhistle had been hanging on to the lead running group at the fourth round of this year's World Triathlon Series when Schoeman launched his attack. The 24-year-old former junior world champion caught up and surged past to his maiden win in the series.
Another followed in Hamburg a month later and the 2018 Tasmanian athlete of the year can reasonably expect to be leading the Aussie charge in Tokyo next year.
Global glory
- WHAT: Eddie Ockenden helps Australia win FIH Pro League
- WHERE: Wagener Stadium, Amstelveen, The Netherlands
- WHEN: June 30
Sunglasses are advised before clicking the "Show medal record" tab on Eddie Ockenden's wikipedia page.
Dazzling in golden circles, the letter 'G' flashes up 19 times, next to seven Champions Trophies, four Oceania Cups, three Commonwealth Games, two World Cups, two World Leagues and, courtesy of a 3-2 win over Belgium in June, one FIH Pro League.
Only one box remains unticked - the one showing two bronze medals from Olympic Games in Beijing, London and Rio.
Now a 32-year-old father-of-two, Ockenden is the Kookaburras' co-captain and second most capped player behind Jamie Dwyer, who he should overtake before his fourth Olympic campaign.
Tiger hunting
- WHAT: Jack Riewoldt and Toby Nankervis help Richmond win the AFL premiership
- WHERE: MCG, Melbourne, Australia
- WHEN: September 28
As of late afternoon on the last Saturday in September, Richmond's Tasmanian teammates Jack Riewoldt and Toby Nankervis will forever have "2xAFL premiership player" on their bios.
Hailing from both ends of the state and playing contrasting roles in Damien Hardwick's ruthless Tigers outfit, the 30-year-old full-forward from Clarence and George Town's 25-year-old former Northern Bombers ruckman were equally pivotal to securing a second flag in three years.
The 89-point victory may have been a rude awakening in Greater Western Sydney's first grand final, but it was a dream result for the Tassie Tigers. Nankervis had more hitouts than all his opponents combined while Riewoldt's five goals was more than the GWS total.
Nankervis' decision to leave Sydney after just 12 games in three years had been validated while one-club wonder Riewoldt added to accolades including being leading goal-kicker nine times in a row and league best three times.
Wading in
- WHAT: Matthew Wade smashes second Ashes century
- WHERE: The Oval, London, England
- WHEN: September 15
Matthew Wade's stature in Australian cricket is inversely proportional to his own 170 centimetres.
Despite a couple of gaping two-year absences from the Test team, the diminutive batsman's explosive ability from the shortest to longest formats presented a compelling case for his return.
As the Hurricanes stormed the Big Bash roster season, only opening partner D'Arcy Short scored more runs or sixes while another teammate, George Bailey, was the only major run-scorer with a superior strike-rate.
Impressive Sheffield Shield stats underlined his case for a national recall and with fellow Hobart wicket-keeper Tim Paine wearing the gloves, 31-year-old Wade's selection as a specialist middle-order batsman was repaid with two of the series' eight centuries.
A knock of 110 in the second innings of the First Test at Edgbaston was bettered by 117 at the Oval as Wade finished as Australia's third highest scorer.
Wurf waiting for
- WHAT: Cam Wurf scales third elite sport
- WHERE: Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, USA
- WHEN: October 13
Cameron Wurf is not one for sitting on his Olympic laurels.
A rower from the age of 13, he competed at the 2004 Olympic Games before a decade as a pro cyclist.
Four years ago the Hobart powerhouse switched to ironman triathlons and for the last three he has been among the front-runners at the sport's iconic world championships in Hawaii.
Last year he finished ninth - the best result by a Tasmanian and third fastest by an Australian - and this year, just three weeks after winning Ironman Italy, the 36-year-old shaved another chunk off that record as he came fifth in 8:06:41.
With other wins from Port Macquarie to Cannes, Wurf continues to make major international statements - not least when he announced plans to drop to the Olympic distance in a late bid to qualify for Tokyo 2020.
History suggests it would be unwise to write him off.
Distant goals
- WHAT: Stewart McSweyn reaches world champs final
- WHERE: Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar
- WHEN: September 27
As Australian batsmen Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke and Steve Smith have passed down the mantle of being the "best since Bradman", so Stewart McSweyn has grown familiar with the comparison "best since Mottram".
He took another stride toward proving it in the heat of Qatar as he became the first Tasmanian to progress from heats to an individual world championship final. The 24-year-old King Islander followed his 12th place in the 5000m athletics world championship final by reaching the 1500m semi-finals.
McSweyn edged closer to Ryan Gregson's 1500m national record of 3:31.06 by clocking exactly 3:31.81 twice in six weeks at opposite ends of France. With a 1500-5000m focus replacing the gruelling 5000-10,000m double he tackled at last year's Commonwealth Games, national records could well accompany a maiden Olympic campaign on McSweyn's 2020 to-do list.