Ariarne Titmus Shaves 0.13 Off Her 800 Freestyle Australian Record – 8:15.57

2021 SWIMMING AUSTRALIA OLYMPIC TRIALS

Delivering the third Australian record of the session, Ariarne Titmus posted an 8:15.57 800 freestyle to take out her own previous mark in the event of 8:15.70 by just 0.13 seconds.

Titmus swam that former Australian record at the 2019 World Swimming Championships en route to a bronze medal behind Katie Ledecky‘s 8:13.58 and Simona Quadarella‘s 8:14.99. Titmus was still a bit shy of Rebecca Adlington‘s 2008 Commonwealth record which sits at an 8:14.10, as well as Katie Ledecky‘s world record of 8:04.79 from 2016.

Titmus kept her splitting fairly consistent with how she swam the race back in 2019, staying around 31s for the majority of her 50 splits.

Split Comparison:

2021 Australian Trials 2019 World Championships
50m 28.83 28.83 28.46 28.46
100m 31.09 59.92 30.55 59.01
150m 31.29 1:31.21 31.17 1:30.18
200m 31.54 2:02.75 31.37 2:01.55
250m 31.38 2:34.13 31.44 2:32.99
300m 31.43 3:05.56 31.44 3:04.43
350m 31.31 3:36.87 31.56 3:35.99
400m 31.59 4:08.46 31.76 4:07.75
450m 31.11 4:39.57 31.07 4:38.82
500m 31.30 5:10.87 31.34 5:10.16
550m 31.00 5:41.87 31.24 5:41.40
600m 31.08 6:12.95 31.77 6:13.17
650m 30.93 6:43.88 31.76 6:44.93
700m 31.23 7:15.11 31.61 7:16.54
750m 30.63 7:45.74 30.27 7:46.81
800m 29.83 8:15.57 28.89 8:15.70

Titmus’ record marks her 3rd Australian record of the meet, having previously lowered the 200 and 400 marks to a 1:53.09 and a 3:56.90, respectively. That also means that Titmus has qualified to race all 3 of those events this summer in Tokyo for Australia, having handily swum under the Olympic qualifying standards in all 3 of her races.

Behind Titmus in the 800 freestyle, Kiah Melverton swam an 8:19.05 to also undercut the required time of 8:29.70. That’s the second event that Melverton has qualified for so far this week, following her second-place finish in the 1500 freestyle.

Titmus and Melverton’s 800 freestyle efforts move them up to the #2 and #3 spots in the world this season, behind only world record holder Katie Ledecky who swam an 8:13.64 in March at the San Antonio stop of the 2021 TYR Pro Swim Series.

2020-2021 LCM Women 800 Free

KatieUSA
Ledecky
07/31
8:12.57
2Ariarne
Titmus
AUS8:13.8307/31
3Katie
Grimes
USA8:17.0507/29
4Simona
Quadarella
ITA8:17.3207/29
5Sarah
Koehler
GER8:17.3307/29
View Top 26»

Titmus’s swim keeps her as the 7th fastest swimmer in the history of the event, now only 0.03 seconds away from Jazz Carlin‘s 6th ranked time of 8:15.54.

Women’s Long Course 800 Freestyle All-Time Performers

  1. Katie Ledecky – 8:04.79 (2016)
  2. Rebecca Adlington – 8:14.10 (2008)
  3. Wang Jianjiahe – 8:14.64 (2019)
  4. Simona Quadarella – 8:14.99 (2019)
  5. Li Bingjie – 8:15.46 (2017)
  6. Jazz Carlin – 8:15.54 (2014)
  7. Ariarne Titmus – 8:15.57 (2019)
  8. Lotte Friis – 8:15.92 (2009)

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Verram
3 years ago

How Lani Pallister didn’t swim the 800? I thought she would try to post a time there like her mum

Old Man Chalmers
Reply to  Verram
3 years ago

she scratched and flew home early. didnt have the meet she wanted

Verram
Reply to  Old Man Chalmers
3 years ago

That’s a shame … would have been good experience for next Olympic trials .. even if she didn’t win .. just turning up is good experience