Titmus seizes golden moment

STEVE Titmus says his daughter Ariarne has set the platform for a “great rivalry” between American legend Katie Ledecky and the Tasmanian teenager.

Ariarne beat the previously unbeatable Ledecky over 400m at the World Championships in Korea on Sunday, mowing her down over the last 50m to claim gold in a memorable win.

Mr Titmus said he was still pinching himself yesterday morning, after cheering his daughter on from the stands.

“To come from suburban swimming pools in Tasmania and driving her to the pool at 5am … to now being in Gwangju in Korea and watching her win the world championship against the greatest is just an enormous moment that, really, it’s hard to put into words to describe how it actually feels,” Mr Titmus said.

“To now think that your daughter is a world champion is really something that is quite extraordinary. The biggest thing for us as a family, I think, is how far this journey has come.”

Mr Titmus said he thought the race was lost more than three quarters of the way through.

“With 75 to go, I thought that Ariarne’s chance to win the race was gone and there would have [to be] an extraordinary effort to come back from there,” he said.

“But then in the last 50m, Ariarne just found that something extra in the tank and stormed home … that was goosebumps stuff.”

Mr Titmus said the win was made all the more memorable given Ledecky’s dominance in recent years.

The American had not lost a major swimming event since 2012 across the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle, and holds the world record in each event.

“I think the big thing about this is that, in a lot of other sports, people compare how various sportspeople go compared to others who are no longer participating in their sports,” he said.

“With swimming, Ariarne is racing the greatest that there’s ever been, right now, in the same pool at the same time.

“Now, what has happened with Ariarne’s victory last night, it’s set the stage for a great rivalry between the two.”

Mr Titmus said the ultimate goal for Ariarne was Olympic gold, but there was still a long way to go.

“Today, Katie Ledecky, she’s still the world record holder, she’s still the Olympic champion, so there’s still a lot of work to be done,” he said.

“I know Ariarne would be treating this as — this is just one more race, this is just another step, in the journey to beat Katie at the Olympics.”

He said his daughter’s success was beyond anything his family could have hoped for after moving to Queensland to further her swimming career.

“It’s been quite surreal, we’re still pinching ourselves that this has actually happened,” he said.