Watch Teen Titmus Slide Under World Record Mark In 400 Free

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.

As originally reported:

WOMEN’S 400 FREE – PRELIMS

  • WR – Wang Jianjiahe – 3:53.97 – 4 OCT 2018
  • CR – Mireia Belmonte Garcia – 3:55.76 – 2014
  • WJ – Wang Jianjiahe – 3:53.97 –  2018
  1. Ariarne Titmus – AUS – 3:53.92
  2. Wang Jianjiahe – CHN – 3:54.56
  3. 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.

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Robbos
5 years ago

Great swim, what a swimmer!!!!

About Retta Race

Retta Race

Former Masters swimmer and coach Loretta (Retta) thrives on a non-stop but productive schedule. Nowadays, that includes having just earned her MBA while working full-time in IT while owning French 75 Boutique while also providing swimming insight for BBC.

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