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Ariarne Titmus secures Australia's equal-best day in Olympics history

Riley Morgan
·Sports Reporter
·4-min read
Ariarne Titmus (pictured right) celebrating with Katie Ledecky and (pictured left) winning the 400m freestyle in Tokyo.
Ariarne Titmus (pictured right) won the women's 400m freestyle and claimed her second gold at the Tokyo Olympics. (Images: Channel 7/Getty Images)

Australia's Ariarne Titmus has once again defeated the great Katie Ledecky to win gold in the 200m women's freestyle with an Olympic Record in Tokyo.

After winning the 400m freestyle in thrilling fashion over her fierce American rival, Titmus came into the 200m freestyle as the fastest qualifier.

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But, it was Hong Kong's Siobhan Haughey leading for 150m of the race as Ledecky fell behind the leaders.

However, just like she did in the 400m, Titmus showed her determination and powered home to grab gold with an Olympic Record.

Titmus clocked an Olympic Record time of 1:53.50 to finish in front of second place Haughey (1:53.92) and Canadian Penny Oleksiak (1:54.70).

The Aussie said she knew during the race she had Ledecky covered as she surged past her, but was worried about Siobhan who was leading with 50m to go.

“I could see I was trying to move Siobhan down on the third 50. I had no idea where she was on the last lap. I knew I had Katie covered but Siobhan was the person that was there,” Titmus said after the race.

“I felt a little bit ... my legs started to go a bit but I’m happy to get it done.”

The Aussie's remarkable swim was her second gold of the Olympics and Australia's sixth overall.

The nation once again went wild over Titmus' achievement and praised the ever-so humble Aussie.

Titmus' gold was the third gold medal of the day for Australia after the women and men won the coxless four rowing.

This equals Australia's best ever day for gold medals in the 125 years of the nation competing at the Olympics.

Australia's 4x200m men's relay team later claimed bronze to cap off a memorable day in the pool.

Ariarne Titmus wins second gold of Tokyo Olympics

Titmus and Ledecky's first duel was in the 400m as the Australian took down the American champion at the Tokyo Olympics.

The American, a five-time Olympic champion, held the lead for the initial 300m but Titmus was watching her all the way, literally lurking at her heels.

The young Australian ominously surged closer and was just 0.16 seconds behind Ledecky with 100m remaining.

Ariarne Titmus (pictured) fist-pumps in celebrattion after winning the gold medal in the Women's 200m Freestyle Final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Ariarne Titmus (pictured) celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Women's 200m Freestyle Final on day five of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) (Al Bello via Getty Images)

Titmus then reeled in her rival in a perfectly-executed race plan to win by half a body-length in a time of three minutes 56.69 seconds.

The loss delivered Ledecky her first at the Olympic Games after Titmus also won the event at the 2019 world championships.

with AAP

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