Australia’s Titmus smashes Ledecky’s 400m freestyle world record
The Hindu
It capped an impressive meet for Titmus who won the 200m freestyle in 1:53.31, the third fastest time ever, and clocked a personal best in the 100m.
Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus smashed Katie Ledecky’s 400m freestyle world record at the Australian championships Sunday, touching in 3mins 56.40secs.
The 21-year-old upset Ledecky in the Tokyo Olympic pool last year to claim gold and has now shattered the American great’s world best of 3:56.46 set at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
“Oh my God, I’ve just loved swimming the past six months, just going to training with no pressure and just enjoying the sport,” she said poolside in Adelaide.
“I never thought this meet, post Olympics, I’d be swimming faster than Olympic trials and the Olympic Games. I guess if you keep surprising yourself it keeps the sport interesting.”
Titmus was under world record pace for the entire race, turning at the halfway mark in 1:56.99 before bringing it home to huge cheers from the crowd.
Ledecky won the 400 free at the US trials last month in 3:59.52.
But Titmus is not expected to defend her world title against Ledecky in Budapest in June, opting to skip the event and focus on the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in July.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.