Mollie O’Callaghan turned on the jets when it mattered most in last week’s 200-meter freestyle final, rocketing past Ariarne Titmus (season-best 1:54.14) for the victory with a personal-best 1:53.83 at the 2023 Australian World Championship Trials.
O’Callaghan’s winning time dropped .18 seconds off her previous-best 1:54.01 from the 2022 Commonwealth Games, where she took silver behind Titmus. The 19-year-old now sits atop the global rankings this season, just ahead of 16-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh (world-junior-record 1:53.91) and Titmus (1:54.14).
O’Callaghan also ranks as the fifth-fastest performer ever in the event behind only Frederica Pellegrini (1:52.98 from 2009), Titmus (1:53.09 from 2021), Allison Schmitt (1:53.61), and Katie Ledecky (1:53.73 from 2016). She’s one of only seven women in history to have broken 1:54 along with McIntosh, Siobhan Haughey, and the aformentioned quartet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt4Pp3o9GJY
This is your LIVEBARN Race of the Week because O’Callaghan is now the favorite on paper in the 100 free and 200 free after swimming world-leading times in both events at last week’s Australian World Championships Trials. At last year’s World Championships, she took gold and silver in the 100 free and 200 free, respectively. The last time a woman swept those events at Worlds? Never. O’Callaghan is on the brink of making history if she can keep her hot streak going next month in Fukuoka, Japan.
ABOUT LIVEBARN
LiveBarn is the global leader in live streaming of amateur and youth sporting events and is the official supplier of live and on-demand video streaming services for swimming pools utilized by USA Swimming member clubs. LiveBarn works directly with USA Swimming clubs to install their Live Streaming technology in pools across the country. LiveBarn is installed in over 1,200 venues broadcasting over 2,700 streams with additional partners added weekly. As a global company, they provide live streaming from US, Canada, Sweden and Israel, broadcasting swimming, ice hockey, baseball, basketball/volleyball and soccer. To learn more, please visit livebarn.com.
FOLLOW LIVEBARN
LiveBarn is a SwimSwam partner.
Great swim by Mollie, seems everyone will need almost a full second on her at the 150 to beat her.
Also I will now refer to Summer as “the McIntosh”.
“She’s one of only seven women in history to have broken 1:54 along with the McIntosh, Siobhan Haughey, and the aformentioned quartet.”
Brilliant race between the top 2 especially.
Mollie’s time is very impressive.
I suspected it would be close but believed Titmus might have gotten to the wall first. This was a nice surprise and augers well for Mollie’s World’s.
Nice race.
28.76 at last 50 is actually a very strong finish by Titmus. But having charging MOC in next lane made Titmus looking like she was struggling to complete the race.