{"id":533733,"date":"2023-07-26T17:12:05","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T00:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=533733"},"modified":"2023-07-26T17:38:18","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T00:38:18","slug":"mollie-ocallaghan-delivers-the-the-wow-factor-in-fukuoka-with-ariarne-titmus-gracious-in-defeat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/mollie-ocallaghan-delivers-the-the-wow-factor-in-fukuoka-with-ariarne-titmus-gracious-in-defeat\/","title":{"rendered":"Mollie O\u2019Callaghan Delivers The \u201cThe Wow\u201d Factor in Fukuoka, With Ariarne Titmus Gracious in Defeat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mollie O\u2019Callaghan Delivers The \u201cThe Wow\u201d Factor in Fukuoka, With Ariarne Titmus Gracious in Defeat<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mollie O\u2019Callaghan<\/strong> has woken up this morning ready to take on the world again as she prepares to defend her 100m freestyle title in Fukuoka after swimming the race of her life against all the odds in last night\u2019s epic 200m freestyle final.<\/p>\n

She blew way the Olympic champion and her training partner in Ariarne Titmus<\/strong> \u2013 something no one expected \u2013 even Mollie herself \u2013 despite coach Dean Boxall\u2019s secret new race strategies that resulted in a new world record of 1:52.85<\/a> \u2013 beating a record that had lasted 14 years.<\/p>\n

And Mollie\u2019s take on the greatest swim of her life, as she grapples with her new-found fame?<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to have fun and enjoy it,\u201d said O\u2019Callaghan, who spoke of the influence of her coach with the rock star looks, Dean Boxall<\/strong> at the Brisbane-based St Peters Western Lutheran College program in the leafy suburb of Indooroopilly.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo try my best and try some new race plans\u2026follow Dean\u2019s race plans\u2026and to come out with a world record was really unexpected for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously Dean is an amazing coach who trains me for this, and I can\u2019t share any of his secrets. But just following him and communicating really led to this moment.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m thankful to have him as a coach and there was a whole support team around it (as well) who really helped me with the whole new strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo really enhance my training and performance and to get the best out of it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

And her reaction when she turned and saw the scoreboard?<\/p>\n

\u201cI looked and thought was that me?\u201d said Mollie.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t really explain the moment, there was tears, there was happiness and mixed emotions and I\u2019m just so proud of myself to do that and such an unexpected moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there was the graceful silver medallist?<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I wanted to win that,\u201d said Titmus, who had thrilled the crowd with her world record swim in the 400m freestyle \u201cRace of the Century\u201d on the opening night and who fired off her own pb of 1:53.01.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I had a great swim in me\u2026and it was a great swim and a personal best but Mollie swam exceptionally well tonight and she deserves the gold,\u201d said Titmus.<\/p>\n

\u201c(For me) not to win It\u2019s great to have someone else from Australia on top of the podium \u2013 1-2 for our country, we\u2019re having a great meet here and I\u2019m, just feel blessed that I get to contribute to the success of the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do have different training; she trains for the 100 and I train for the 400 so for us to meet in the middle it\u2019s exciting but it\u2019s good to see her on the rise; she\u2019s young and it\u2019s good to have this competitiveness which means we\u2019ll be swimming faster and faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Titmus, who along with Madi Wilson<\/strong> and Kiah Melverton<\/strong> set a new world record in the 4x200m freestyle at last year\u2019s Commonwealth Games, was asked about the relay?<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s super exciting to have two of us that fast and we\u2019ll have two (fresh) girls to swim in the morning,\u201d said Titmus.<\/p>\n

THIS IS A story of two Brisbane girls training side-by-side in the 2032 Olympic city that has produced more Olympic and world champions than any other swimming region in the world \u2013 the story of two world champions and two world record holders.<\/p>\n

The toast of a crazy sports mad country that is gripped with Women\u2019s World Cup Soccer fever and their beloved National team the Matildas who play in Brisbane tonight and a cricket team that will play the old foe England in the final of what has been a hostile Ashes battle both on and of the pitch.<\/p>\n

And then the fanfare around One Year To Go to the Paris Olympics, and \u201cMollie O and Arnie\u201d put on a show stopping showdown for the ages in the Marine Messe Fukuoka.<\/p>\n

A race that had swimming greats Giaan Rooney,<\/strong> the last Australian woman to win the world title over 200m and it was here in Fukuoka in 2001, and the man who stopped the world with six gold at that meet, Ian Thorpe<\/strong>, both gushing in amazement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWow\u2026and wow\u2026!!\u201d was Rooney\u2019s immediate reaction as she and Thorpe reached for the right words in the thick of the action as they analysed the race on Australia\u2019s Olympic Network, Channel 9.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWow what a swim. I honestly thought that Arnie was the only one capable of going under 1:53 tonight,\u201d admitted Rooney.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can honestly say I didn\u2019t think Mollie had that in her at this stage (of her career) so that was just extraordinary.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalk about exciting swimming on this program\u2026.I did not think we would see someone swim over the top of Arnie\u2026Mollie was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the final words from Thorpe, a man who wrote and rewrote his own world records over a dozen times in a stellar career over 200, 400 and 800m freestyle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have two swimmers in Australia (with) expectations of going under 1:53 which is somewhere where only one other person has been,\u201d said Thorpe on Australia\u2019s Wide World Of Sports<\/em> coverage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have just seen a world record for Mollie O\u2019Callaghan and we should be so proud of her and there\u2019s also Ariarne and where can they take this event, they are racing against each other in training and they come onto the world stage and Mollie O\u2019Callaghan blew it away ..congratulations!\u201d<\/p>\n

Paris awaits\u2026..<\/p>\n