Canadian teen crashes party

Titmus gets oh so close in 200m

ARIARNE Titmus was meant to be the 17-year-old who upset the apple cart against world championship medallist Emma McKeon.

But someone forgot to hand Canadian teen Taylor Ruck the script.

Ruck, the world junior champion in the 200m freestyle, is one of the rising stars of Canada’s outstanding women’s swimming program.

And while the Aussies were overwhelming favourites heading into the 200m at the Gold Coast Aquatic Centre, it was the Canadian 17-year-old who took a leaf out of the book written by another young Maple Leaf teammate in the past.

Just as Penny Oleksiak did when she snared a surprise gold in the 100m against Cate Campbell at the Rio Olympics, Ruck showed no fear as she raced to gold against the strong Aussie duo.

She needed every inch of her 183cm frame to do it though, reaching the wall in 1min 54.81sec, just 0.04sec ahead of Titmus, who roared home in the final 50m to go within a fingernail of the win.

McKeon had led the field out hard but wilted in the final stages and while she hung on for bronze, she lost her Games record, set when she claimed gold in Glasgow, to the young Canadian.

The effort was outstanding for Titmus though, whose main events are the 400m and 800m freestyle later in the week.

The teen nicknamed “The Terminator” thrived under pressure too, using the energy of the crowd to drive her home.

“The crowd’s amazing,” Titmus, a Tasmanian junior swimmer now living in Brisbane, said.

“I don’t usually hear them when I swim but I heard them and it was a bit like Budapest last year [at the world championships], with the crazy atmosphere, but for us so it was really exciting.

“I think if you use the crowd smartly it’s going to be an advantage.”

Also in the pool last night, Australian Mack Horton won the gold medal in the men’s 400m freestyle, taking the lead in the last 100m to win from Jack McLoughlin, a 23-yearold from Brisbane.

And a superb last leg by Cate Campbell propelled Australia’s 4x100m freestyle relay team to gold and a world record, shaving 0.6sec off.