Titmus is hurting and that’s just the way she likes it

ARIARNE Titmus needed to make pain a friend to become the new force in swimming’s most taxing events with a mantra she borrowed from one of Australia’s distance divas.

The breakout new star of the Aussie swim team credits a chat with 1988 Olympian Janelle Elford, a multiple Australian title winner, for flicking a switch in her mindset for the brutal demands of the 400m-800m double.

She swims the 800m to win but she loves the racing of the 400m, where tonight she hopes she can produce one of the rousing highlights at the pool.

Should she become a champion for the new age by beating Welsh Olympic silver medallist Jazz Carlin, a special bonus will await.

The gold medal will signify a baton change because it will be presented by Gold Coastbased Tracey Wickham, who won the 400m-800m double at both the 1978 and 1982 Commonwealth Games.

Titmus was an unknown 14year-old from Launceston at the national age championships in Sydney in 2015 when she spoke with Elford.

“She said ‘you have to learn to love pain and when you feel that pain you push harder’,” Titmus, just 17, said.

“I went out and swam my best race in ages and I put it down to what Janelle told me. “I’m not scared of pain.” It’s that hardcore attitude that is so exciting.

It is only six years since Susie O’Neill wondered if Aus- tralia was still breeding female swimmers willing to do the tough mileage in the pool to follow in the Hall of Fame footsteps of former distance queens such as Wickham, Michelle Ford, Hayley Lewis, Julie McDonald, Karen Moras, Jenny Turrall and Elford.

“It won’t be easy. Jazz will bring her best and I’ll bring mine so it’ll be a great battle,” Titmus said.

It’s easy to forget that Titmus is still a schoolgirl in Year 12 at Brisbane’s St Peter’s Lutheran College.

“Last year, I’d revise for exams with biology stats in my head when I was training but school has to be second for now because I have a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she said.

For many swimmers calming the nerves is the trick. The racer within this pool sprite operates in reverse. “I try to make myself nervous, it makes the blood run and I race better with good nerves,” Titmus said.

“To be a distance swimmer you have to be the toughest and I love that ... first in, last out at training.”