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.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHtjcgm8PdQ

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.