Ariarne Titmus has been compared to male swimming royalty after a record-breaking spree at Australia's Olympic trials in Adelaide.
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The Launceston-born world champion's time of 1:53.09 to win the women's 200-metre freestyle final was a new Commonwealth and Australian record and just 0.11 off the world record set by Italian Federica Pellegrini in the swim suit era in 2009.
Faster than the 1:53.61 in which Allison Schmitt claimed 2012 Olympic gold in London, Titmus' time was also faster than all but the last 200m of Mark Spitz's career.
The only time the American great went quicker was 1:52.78 among his legendary haul of seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Titmus' great freestyle rival, Katie Ledecky, of the US, who won over 800m at the London Olympics and then 200, 400 and 800m in Rio, has a personal best of 1:53.73
Coached by Dean Boxall at St Peters in Brisbane, Titmus took more than a second off her own national record of 1:54.27.
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.
