Aussie pool queen Ariarne Titmus has found a new way to improve her performance in the pool with a simple household item at the national titles – as she alludes to retirement plans.
The 22-year-old set a blistering time of 3:58.47 to win the 400m freestyle by more than four seconds at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Center on Tuesday night to reserve her spot for the upcoming World Championships in Japan.
The seven-time Commonwealth Games gold medalist recently lost her world record to 16-year-old Canadian sensation Summer McIntosh.
Her strong performance was a signal to the two North American superstars that she is ready to defend her gold medal at the Paris Olympics in a year’s time.
And it’s thanks to a very simple household item you could use to hang a poster of her: Blu Tack.
Ariarne Titmus ditched the traditional earplug and instead went with Blu Tack as she won the 400-meter freestyle at the national titles on Tuesday night
The Australian polar queen is gearing up for a huge year in the pool, with World Championships next month and the Paris Olympics in just over 12 months
Instead, in a sports world with increasingly sophisticated technology, Titmus followed fellow Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook’s lead by using a new way to keep water and bacteria out of her ears.
“Zac Stubblety-Cook does it too, so it could be a bit of a world record thing, I don’t know,” she told reporters after her win with Blu Tack.
“I feel like I had earplugs fixed and they don’t work, so change the Blu Tack every few days and the job is done.”
The two-time Olympic gold medalist burst onto the scene at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, where she won three gold medals.
It’s only gotten better and better since then, with Titmus one of the most recognizable Aussie swimmers, widely loved as one of the queens dominating in and out of the pool.
She certainly proved that after the race when she expressed some disappointment despite her blistering time, which, to be fair, is two seconds off McIntosh’s world record time of 3:56.08.
Titmus then dropped a bombshell by alluding to retirement after next year’s Paris Olympics in stunning scenes.
Will Titmus retire when she defends her 2020 Olympic gold medal crown (pictured) in Paris next year? The Aussie star hasn’t ruled it out
“I wanted to swim faster tonight, but I’ll watch the splits and see how it went,” said the competitor after the race.
“I was a little bit rested, but wasn’t all the way tapered like I would for World Championships or Olympics. When you go to a competition like this, you always want to take the opportunity to swim as quickly as possible.
‘[Coach] dean [Boxall] and I had the talk. I don’t know what I’m going to do after Paris. I plan to keep going, but you never know.
“This could be my fourth-last 400, including Paris and trials and worlds and this. If I decide to quit, it could be my fourth last rested 400. You have to use these opportunities to swim as fast as possible.’
The Queensland-based star, who was destined to be famous from a young age, with her family from Tasmania uprooting their lives to give her a chance, then laughed as she tried to shove a metaphorical foot into her mouth.
“I’m a little sorry for saying that now, because now you all think I’m going to stop, but I won’t,” Titmus said, her eyes gleaming.
“I think if I were to go to Paris and win again, certainly as a motivating factor, it would be harder to keep training at the same level when you’ve essentially achieved everything you set out to achieve.
“Right now I feel like I’m trying to forget what I’ve accomplished in my swimming career. I just try to be that young boy I was when I first started swimming to get motivated.”
Titmus flies off the blocks as she wins the 400m freestyle at the National Championships in Melbourne on Tuesday night
But it’s safe to say she’s still extremely motivated to defend her Olympic title in the 400-meter freestyle.
With Paris set to take place from July next year, the veteran Titmus fired the first shots for her blockbuster showdown with the prodigious McIntosh and the spry Ledecky.
“With the experience that Katie has had and with what I’ve had, I feel like we have more experience than Summer (McIntosh) racing with the pressure,” Titmus said of their anticipated competition in the 400-meter freestyle at the Olympic To play.
“I feel like Summer hasn’t really had that experience of racing on the international stage under pressure. It will be interesting to see how she fares. Props to her if she goes in as a favorite.
“On paper I would say I am the Olympic champion when I go in. I feel like Katie, Summer and I are pretty evenly matched. I like to go in with the underdog story. I like it when you can jump.’
Canadian superstar Summer McIntosh (pictured) has broken the world record in the 400m freestyle held by Titmus… but the Aussie is determined to get it back
It stung Titmus when McIntosh took her world record time, but after initially being hurt and disappointed, she is now determined to get it back.
“Obviously world records will be broken, but when you break one you naively think they will last forever,” she said.
“When it broke, it was a bit of a bee sting. It does give that little bit of extra motivation, because everyone is getting faster and faster.’
It was a big night in the pool for the first day of National titles as Aussie superstars battle for a spot at the World Championships.
Sam Short defeated Elijah Winnington in a hotly contested men’s 400-meter freestyle, while the popular Kaylee McKeown won the 200-meter individual medley, despite not even being at the peak of her training program for the event.
The titles continue on Wednesday night (and run through Sunday), with the men’s 200-meter freestyle, 50-meter butterfly, and women’s 100-meter breaststroke and backstroke culminating in another packed evening.