Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus has made a welcome return to racing in the 200m freestyle heats on Day Two of the 2023 Hancock Prospecting Queensland Swimming Championships in Brisbane today – confident she has time on her side to qualify for Paris 2024.
Titmus (St Peters Western) raced for the first time post her successful operation to remove benign tumors from one of her ovaries in September, clocking the third fastest time of the morning heats (1:57.89) behind SPW training partners, world champion and world record holder Mollie O’Callaghan (1:57.15) and fellow 4x200m freestyle world champion Shayna Jack (1:57.51.) at the Brisbane Aquatic Centre.
BACK ON DECK: Ariarne Titmus. Photo Courtesy Hanson Media
And the 400m freestyle Olympic and reigning world champion was quick to admit: “I’m probably racing the tiredest I’ve ever been in my life…usually for these meets, I might have a bit of a drop in maybe two days of a bit lighter (training) but I’m really playing catch-up at the moment (post the operation) and trying to get as much work in as I can, so I’m pretty (tired) racing here.
“But it’s more about getting back in the pool and racing and getting used to that racing process – I haven’t put a suit on since July (World Championships).
“I really have no expectations. I know I’m on my way back and I can’t read into my swims too much here.”
Asked about the mental challenge towards 2024 at the Paris Olympics, Titmus said she definitely had time “but I don’t have time to waste.”
“I think I’m actually in a better position now than I thought I would be. Post-op we were quite conservative with my recovery, we just didn’t want anything to go wrong. There was a massive risk of hernia.
“When you get your abdominal wall cut open you really have to take it easy, so I’d say I’ve probably had about six weeks of work that I’ve built on and I probably started doing proper pace two or three weeks ago.
“So I don’t have much in this prep but I know that I have a massive base that should carry me through.”
The depth of these Championships is certainly apparent in the finalists for the women’s and men’s 200m freestyles, even a challenge for the World and Olympic champions.
The women’s A final includes the four SPW girls – Titmus, O’Callaghan, Jack and Brianna Throssell – who won the world championship 4x200m freestyle relay in world record time in Fukuoka this year – plus SPW teammates Kiah Melverton (who was in the Australian team that set the world record at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games) and rising star Jamie Perkins.
THAT’S OVER: Ariarne Titmus after winning her heat in the 200m freestyle. Photo Courtesy Wade Brennan Photography
Here are the Top 10 Qualifiers for the women’s 200m freestyle final (Qld unless otherwise listed)
Mollie O’Callaghan (St Peters Western) 1:57.15
Shayna Jack (St Peters Western) 11:57.51
Ariarne Titmus (St Peters Western) 1:57.89
Lani Pallister (Griffith University) 1:57.93
Meg Harris (Rackley Swim Team) 1:58.36
Brianna Throssell (St Peters Western) 1:58.71
Jamie Perkins (St Peters Western) 1.59.48
Kiah Melverton (St Peters Western) 1:59.53
Eve Thomas (New Zealand) 1:59.82
Kaylee McKeown (Griffith University) 1:59.82
Titmus, Melverton, Perkins and Thomas will all back-up later in the night in the 800m freestyle Timed Final while McKeown (just 0.12 outside her own world record on Day One in the 50m backstroke where she clocked 26.98m in the inter-club medley relay lead off) and O’Callaghan will contest the 100m backstroke final – McKeown qualifying fastest this morning in 59.67 from Iona Anderson (Breakers SC, WA) and O’Callaghan, 1.00.12
The men’s 200m is also shaping up to be a battle royal, the top Australian men determined not to let the girls get all the attention with one of the finds of 2023 Kai Taylor (St Peters Western) the fastest qualifier in 1:47.11 as the 1:47s became the order of the day -and maybe 1:46s will be on the menu tonight.
A field where just half-a-second separates the first five qualifiers that includes the last two world champions in the 400m freestyle, 2022 winner Elijah Winnington and 2023 champion Sam Short.
STEPPING UP: Kai Taylor, fastest qualifier in the men’s 200m freestyle. Photo Courtesy wade Brennan Photography.
Here is the Top 10 for what will be an enthralling shootout:
Kai Taylor (St Peters Western) 1:47.11
Max Giuliani (Miami) 1:47.12
Elijah Winnington (St Peters Western) 1:47.20
Sam Short (Rackley Swim Team) 1:47.51
Thomas Neill (Rackley Swim Team) 1:47.62
Alex Graham (Miami) 1:48.78
Noah Millard (MLC Aquatic, VIC) 1:49.56
Harrison Turner (Nudgee College) 1:49.56
Ed Sommerville (Brisbane Grammar) 1:49.82
Louis Townsend (Rackley Swim Team) 1:50.26
In other finals tonight:
Bradley Woodward (Mingara, NSW), fresh from his 50,100, 200m treble the Japan Open is the fastest qualifier in the mens’s 100m backstroke in 54.22; Matthew Wilson (SOPAC, NSW) the fastest in the men’s 200m breaststroke in 2:10.91 with the Miami pair Jenna Strauch (2:25.87) and Matilda Smith (2:27.37) the top two in the women’s 200m breaststroke.