2018 FINA SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, December 11th – Sunday, December 16th
- Hangzhou, China
- Tennis Centre, Hangzhou Olympic & International Expo Center
- Live Results (Omega)
18-year-old Ariarne Titmus had the race of her life tonight in Hangzhou, as the Australian not only beat a pair of home-crowd favorites, but produced a new World Record in the women’s 400m freestyle.
Entering the meet, Titmus’ previous 400 short course meters free personal best rested at the 3:59.19 she clocked at the Aussie SC Nationals this past October. That outing represented the Commonwealth Games champion’s firts time ever under the 4:00 mark. But, the teen blew that performance out of the water here in Hangzhou, crushing an astonishing 3:53.92 to take gold and slide under the old WR mark of 3:53.97 set by China’s Wang Jianjie just a couple of months ago.
Wang was impressive again tonight, finishing in 3:54.56, but simply couldn’t make a final surge to overtake wire-to-wire winner Titmus. China’s other freestyle teen ace, Li Bingjie, earned bronze tonight in 3:57.99, while America’s Leah Smith also got under the 4:00 mark with 3:58.58 for 4th place.
Video courtesy of Alex Muni.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHtjcgm8PdQ
As originally reported:
WOMEN’S 400 FREE – PRELIMS
WR – Wang Jianjiahe – 3:53.97 – 4 OCT 2018CR – Mireia Belmonte Garcia – 3:55.76 – 2014- WJ – Wang Jianjiahe – 3:53.97 – 2018
- Ariarne Titmus – AUS – 3:53.92
- Wang Jianjiahe – CHN – 3:54.56
- Li Bingjie – CHN – 3:57.99
We got an epic battle between teenage distance stars.
Australia’s Ariarne Titmus went out under world record pace and held a solid lead throughout the race. The only other woman close to her to was Wang Jianjiahe, who pushed Titmus over the final laps as Titmus downed Wang’s world record by a .05s to set a new mark in 3:53.92. Wang finished just over half a second back, earning silver in 3:54.56.
Li Bingjie and Leah Smith waged their own battle for 3rd place, with Li getting the touch about six-tenths of a second ahead of Smith, 3:57.99 to 3:58.58.
Great swim, what a swimmer!!!!