The international swimming rivalry between the United States and Australia needs no introduction. The fact that Australia has unmatched depth in the women’s freestyle events also needs no introduction, but we’ll give a bit of it anyway.
At the 2023 Fukuoka World Championships, the quartet of Mollie O’Callaghan, Shayna Jack, Brianna Throssell, and Ariarne Titmus set a new world record in the 4×200 freestyle relay, destroying the previous mark by almost two seconds (7:37.50). At that same meet, O’Callaghan cracked Federica Pelligrini’s 14 year-old world record in the 200 free (1:52.85).
Just under a year later, O’Callaghan did it again at Australian Trials, but this time Titmus beat her to it. Adding up the top four times from that field results in a projected relay ceiling of 7:36.02, which would once again shatter the world record time by over a second.
Women’s 200 Free Top 8 – 2024 Australian Trials:
- Ariarne Titmus – 1:52.23 World Record
- Mollie O’Callaghan…