Australia's Ariarne Titmus wins women's 200m freestyle for second gold medal of the Games
The Team Australia swimmer continued where she left off two days ago with a gold-winning performance, ahead of Hong Kong, China's Siobhan Haughey and Canada's Penny Oleksiak.
Swimming
Two days after being crowned the women's Olympic 400m freestyle champion, Australian swimming sensation Ariarne Titmus has doubled her tally of golds with a stunning swim in the 200m freestyle final.
In a stacked field, that included 400m freestyle world record holder Katie Ledecky (USA) and 200m freestyle world record holder Federica Pellegrini, Titmus proved herself a class above the competition, winning the final in an Olympic Record time of 1:53.50, ahead of Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong, China (silver) and Canada's Rio 2016 100m freestyle champion Penny Oleksiak (bronze).
Titmus produced a scintillating final length to catch Ledecky - who finished fifth - on the turn and soared ahead in the final metres. She now has a day to recover before going again in Thursday's 800m freestyle competition.
After winning the 400m free on Tuesday, Titmus paid tribute to Ledecky, highlighting the fact that having such formidable opposition beside her gives her an extra impetus to up her game.
“I just thanked her,” Titmus said. “I wouldn’t be here without her. She’s set this standard for middle-distance freestyle.
"If I didn’t have someone like her to chase I definitely wouldn’t be swimming the way I am.”
Now the chaser has become the one to beat, as Ariarne Titmus writes her own glorious Tokyo 2020 story.
After the race, the Australian spoke about how she felt after winning gold in what proved to be a challenging race: “That was a hell of a tough one," she said. "I knew Siobhan Bernadette Haughey (who finished second for Hong Kong, China) really wanted this. I could tell by the way that she swam yesterday morning, so I knew it would be tough to beat her.
“It's not the time (1:53.50) I thought I could do this morning, but it’s the Olympics and there's a lot of other things going on. So, it was just about winning here. I'm very happy.”
She also took the chance to reflect on how far she has come on her journey to become a double Olympic champion: "I'm just from a small town in Tassie," said Titmus, who was raised in Tasmania. "And this goes to show that if you believe you can do something you can 100 per cent do it."