TITMUS PREPARES FOR DOGFIGHT WITH CHAMP
THE Pan Pacs was just a scrap.
By the time the Tokyo Olympics roll around, Ariarne Timus’s coach Dean Boxall wants to see his charge involved in a desperate dogfight with American distance great Katie Ledecky.
The Brisbane-based Tasmanian may have lost the 400m to Ledecky at the Pan Pacs but in becoming just the third woman in history to break the fourminute barrier for the event, she pushed Ledecky more than any other rival has in that event, finishing just 1.16sec behind.
Boxall says his swimmer engaged in a battle with Ledecky. But by the time the 2020 Olympics are here, he wants the teenager ready for all-out war.
“You’ve still got to get to the point where you get in a dogfight,” Boxall said. “She got in a scrap but the dogfight is when you’re next to someone and there the will comes.
“So that’s the next step. Arnie’s certainly got that, you can see when she’s raced domestically and even internationally at the world shortcourse.
“But it’s when you’re going against the No.1 you’ve got to see what your mettle is all about.”
Boxall doesn’t want to focus constantly on Ledecky, 21, and rarely mentions her to Titmus, 17, in their training environment.
But he does have immense respect for the champion and expects her to respond to the challenge of a young rival as any great would.
“I think we’ve woken up a giant now,” Boxall said.
“It’s either going to make her go absolutely crazy in training, or Arnie’s in her head.”