No woman has ever won the 200m and 400m double twice at an Olympic Games but Ariarne Titmus is on the verge of history after yet another impressive display from the Tasmanian dynamo.
Titmus edged out her friendly Australian rival Mollie O’Callaghan to qualify fastest for the 200m in the night-two semi-finals of the 200m at the Paris Olympics.
The reigning champion touched the wall at 1:54.64 with O’Callaghan hot on her heels at 1:54:70 with American Claire Weinstein the third-fastest qualifier at 1:55.24..
After becoming just the second Australian woman after the legendary Dawn Fraser to defend an Olympic swimming crown, the 23-year-old now has another shot at history at the Paris La Defense Arena.
Olympic Games Paris 2024. Every Event. Ad-free. Live & On Demand. 4K. 8 Exclusive International channels from Eurosport, Viacom18 and Sky NZ, only on Stan Sport.
Titmus did not push herself to the limit in the heats earlier after her stunning opening-night victory in the 400m final.
O’Callaghan paced her swim well in the opening heat – she was third after the first turn, dropped to fourth at the 100m mark before powering to second after the third lap and blitzing to the front in cruise control to stop the clock at 1:55.79.
Titmus was next up and was content to cruise to the finish. She was also third after the opening lap, grabbed the lead by the second turn and maintained that advantage until the end of the third lap and then eased off at the finish, allowing Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey to touch the wall first.
Her time of 1:56.23, well shy of her world record of 1:52.23.
Her double gold at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago came after a preparation limited by a shoulder injury.
But her path to Paris was smooth, highlighted by breaking the 200m freestyle world record at Australia’s selection trials last month.
Emma McKeon was emotional after finishing sixth in the women’s 100m butterfly final, her final individual swim as an Olympian.
The retiring Australian great, who won her record-breaking sixth gold medal in the 4x100m relay on opening night, was 1.34 seconds behind winner Torri Huske, who pipped her world record holder American teammate Gretchen Walsh by 0.04s.
Max Giuliani is through to the men’s 200m freestyle finals, qualifying fifth in 1:45.37 after finishing third in his semi-final.
In the earlier day-two heats, Giuliani and Thomas Neill made it through to the semis after qualifying fifth and ninth respectively.
Neill just missed the cut for the final in the semi-finals after finishing fifth in 1:46.18.
Australia’s Jenna Strauch won her heat of the 100m breaststroke in 1:07.27 but just missed out on a spot in the semis.
The Aussies also came up short in the men’s 400m individual medley with William Campbell Petric sixth in the first heat and Brendon Smith seventh in the second one to miss out on advancing.
Isaac Cooper was seventh in his 100m backstroke heat and Brad Woodward was eighth to also miss the cut.