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Ariane Titmus broke the women’s 400m freestyle world record at the Australian Championships.
Titmas took three minutes 57.40 seconds in the final in Adelaide on Sunday night.
During her time at the 2016 Olympics, she outperformed the previous benchmark of 3: 56.46 set by her American rival Katie Ledecky.
“It’s kind of nice now that I’m not going to be asked when I’m going to break the world record,” Titmas said.
“I am happiest outside of swimming, I am happiest in my life swimming.
“It’s definitely showing up in the pool.”
Titmus defeated Ledecky for Olympic gold in the 400m and 200m freestyle, beating American Great in the 800m freestyle final at last year’s Tokyo Games.
“I’m definitely not pushing myself like I used to, but it’s still a healthy amount,” said the 21-year-old.
“It simply came to our notice then.
“Just going out there completely fearlessly, when I was 16 years old I felt like swimming and entered the first national team and surprised myself by going there.”
© AAP