Titmus has what it takes

Thorpe backs Tassie youngster

AUSTRALIA’S most successful Olympian Ian Thorpe believes Tasmanian swimmer Ariarne Titmus can win her first Olympic gold next year but will have to overcome the toughest task in swimming.

Only nine months out from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Titmus is enduring a journey twotime Olympian Thorpe knows well.

Thorpe broke onto the world stage as a 15-year-old when he won the 400m freestyle at the world championships and took that momentum into the 2000 Sydney Olympics, where he won three gold medals and two silvers.

Titmus, 19, who was born a week before the Sydney Olympics, gained public attention at this year’s world championships when she beat Katie Ledecky in the 400m freestyle, which was the first time anyone had defeated the US superstar at a major international meeting since 2012.

Across all major international competitions, Ledecky has won 28 gold medals, including five in the Olympics, but Thorpe is confident Launceston-born Titmus can cause an upset.

“I’m a big Ariarne fan, she is one of my favourite swimmers to watch anywhere in the world,” Thorpe said.

“If she wins gold it’s such a significant achievement and it’s even more so because of who it’s against.

“What people need to hear is that she is up against the best female swimmer the world has ever had in Katie Ledecky.

“To put it into context she is up against the very best female swimmer in history.

“It is like if we had a swimmer against Michael Phelps in one of his best events and he had of beaten him, we’re talking about the same thing.”

One advantage Titmus has according to Thorpe is her room for improvement but he did admit Olympic preparation is more than just pure skill.

“Ariarne’s ability to improve is greater than what Katie’s is at this stage,” Thorpe said. “Katie has reached about where her peak is, where Ariarne has more of an upward curve to come.

“A lot of it comes down to timing, if I told you in 146 days from now you have to perform at your best how do you think you’d go? Do you know it’s going to happen that day? Or did it happen a day before or a week after?”