Mollie O’Callaghan goes low in 200m Olympics tune-up

Mollie O’Callaghan responded to a stern challenge from Ariarne Titmus and stole the fastest 200m freestyle time of the year from Canada’s Summer McIntosh in a pre-Olympics statement on the Gold Coast.

The world title holder won the Australian championships on Saturday night, beating Tokyo Olympic champion Titmus by 1 minute, 53.57 seconds (1:55.38).

O’Callaghan wasn’t too happy with her time despite being the fastest in the world this season, beating Canadian star McIntosh’s time of 1:54.21 just 10 days ago.

The 20-year-old was pushed early by sprint specialist Shayna Jack, who won the 50-meter freestyle early in the meet, before Titmus came through with 75 meters to go.

But O’Callaghan surged ahead after the final turn to win by more than a length, Titmus falling back from a victory in less than four minutes over 400 meters on Friday.

The championships will be O’Callaghan’s last competitive race before June’s Olympic trials in Brisbane.

“I always strive to go faster. The 200 is a very difficult event to solve and this was the last time I solved it before the trials,” O’Callaghan told Channel Nine.

Kaylee McKeown was on her own world record pace at the start of the 200m backstroke final, her time of 2:03.84 just 0.7 seconds slower than her 2023 high and more than five seconds faster than the rest of the field of Saturday.

Emma McKeon, Australia’s most decorated Olympian, won the 100m butterfly in pouring rain, clocking 56.58 ahead of Brianna Throssell (56.77) and Alexandria Perkins (57.73).

“I just want to see what I’m capable of, both mentally and physically, and that’s what keeps me going,” McKeon said.

Rio Olympic champion and Tokyo Games silver medalist Kyle Chalmers dominated the men’s 100m freestyle, winning in 47.63 ahead of William Yang (48.20) and Kai Taylor (48.69).

Sam Williamson (27.16), recently crowned world 50m breaststroke champion, edged out Josh Yong (27.60) to claim the national title in an event not contested at the Olympic Games.

Former Japanese world champion Daiya Seto, training with Michael Bohl at Griffith University, beat New Zealand’s current world champion Lewis Clareburt in the 400m individual medley.

AAP