We’ve witnessed something special last night that means a lot to the whole of Australia, even though one might have to fall short but at same time we saw someone taking home both the win and that new world record time. It’s the Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus who defeated World Champion and latest world record holder Mollie O’Callaghan in the Women’s 200m Freestyle Final. She posted a breathtaking new time of 1:52:23, which was 0.62 secs ahead of Mollie’s WR at the World Championships last year of 1:52:85. First of all, what a swim we’ve had as this is what competition really looks like so we can conquer the pools of Paris. Arnie had unfinished business to bounce back from finishing 2nd last year to Mollie by beating her through the end of the wall in order to take back both prizes. She continues to be our best swimmers both short and long distance races with more record beating achievements to come including more gold in Paris not too long from now. Meanwhile, it’s not easy looking back when ending up being 2nd best at the Olympic Trials that includes the one Arnie took her world record time in that meet that lasted just under a year. However, we all know Mollie is a top-notch swimmer who continues to push herself and Arnie for the best of our Aussie Dolphins Swim Team. Plus, she can answer back too by picking up as many Olympic gold medals as she can going into Paris- How about that? That’s her goal to take next time.
Over in the Men’s races, yes, it’s going to take some time before we hope to see one breaking world records more often in the near future. But we still had some excellent competition like that 800m Freestyle Final where Sam Short was outpaced by Elijah Winnington, particularly in the last 50m dash so that’s not a bad start. We also had Cam McEvoy still going strong at age 30 – who hopes to set the Olympics alight – following another outstanding swim in the 50m Freestyle dash like he did at the World Champs where he got his first gold there last year. And speaking on the men’s feedback a bit earlier where our Freestyle performances isn’t bad but we do lack in other areas however like the Butterfly. Feeling so sorry for Bowen Gough who might have won that Domestic Butterfly Finals race in the 200m. He just couldn’t crack the time he really wanted in order to get to Paris of 1:54:97 after his race form looked a bit slower than the one he did during the heats and you can feel the disappointment of being forced to sit out instead of having the opportunity to have a crack v the best from the world regardless of the result. Again, it’s going to be a long time coming for someone to be the next best thing in our Butterfly group other than Liz Dekkers who finished 2nd in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final at the World Champs last year.
Three days done, three to go as we are halfway through on filling in our best Dolphins Swim Team squad for Paris.
