If you ask Ariarne Titmus, her best is still yet to come.
It’s a daunting prospect for the Australian’s rivals considering three years ago in Tokyo she produced a pair of inspired swims to become just the third woman in Olympic history to win gold in both the 200m and 400m freestyle races. In the latter event, Titmus upset American icon Katie Ledecky, forcing every casual fan around the globe to sit up and take notice of swimming’s next global superstar.
Now, on the eve of her second Olympic campaign, Titmus has issued another stern warning to those hoping to spoil her trip to Paris. The 23-year-old confirmed she is fitter, stronger, healthier, and swimming better than ever as she looks to defend those titles from Tokyo and continue enhancing her legacy in the pool.
“As an athlete — altogether, as a whole — I am in a better position than three years ago,” Titmus told reporters, shortly after touching down in France. “I am being honest in saying I think I have prepared the best I ever have for a swim meet.
“I have got so many learnings from the last Olympic Games. Taking that confidence with me can make the task seem a little bit more grounded. I have just tried to take everything I have learnt over the past three years with me, and all the experience I have got from international racing.”
It’s that banked experience at the highest level that former Australian freestyle megastar Stephanie Rice believes will allow Titmus to reach even greater heights over the next fortnight in Paris.
“Speaking to her before the Tokyo Olympics, one of the things I said to her was that it is really easy to get up on day one, your first race. You’re so excited, it’s all ‘yee-ha’, but what makes it really hard is the emotional drain that you feel after you’ve done one or two races, because you’ve got to get back up,” Rice tells ESPN. “She said to me after [Tokyo] that she really felt that. It was just getting really hard, say, on day four, to be like ‘okay, here we go again’.
“What’s exciting is she did so well under all of that stress and emotion in Tokyo, and I think now she is going to have that experience under her belt and know what she is probably going to experience [in Paris]. It’s not the first time you’re going through all of that.”
Despite dominating last month’s Australian Trials in Brisbane and appearing to have hit top gear at the right time, Titmus’ Paris preparations have been far from smooth sailing. Late last year Titmus underwent surgery to remove two benign tumours from her right ovary, a “scary time” in her life that if undiscovered and untreated could have led to serious ramifications later in life.
“Of course, in these moments you think of the worst-case scenario, and I was petrified of potentially losing the ovary or there being implications that could affect me and my desire to have children one day,” Titmus posted to Instagram. “I have learnt a lot about my swimming the past three years. I have grown so much as an athlete, but more so as a person.”
Titmus will once again navigate a jam-packed Olympic slate. She will defend her 200m and 400m freestyle titles, contest the 800m distance, and swim either the crucial lead-off or anchor leg for the 200m relay squad, one that’s heavily tipped to win Australia gold.
There won’t be any easing into the meet for Titmus, either, with the final of her favoured eight-lap race to be swam on opening night at the La Defense Arena in Paris. The 400m race is an event Titmus has not been beaten in since 2019, and one she obliterated the field in at last month’s Australian Trials with a near-world record time of 3:55.44.
“There are quite a few things that make ‘Arnie’ super talented,” Rice tells ESPN. “Technically, she is very strong. She’s got such long, powerful strokes. When you watch her, she sort of has that Ian Thorpe feeling. That easy and fluid stroke.
“She is so fit that in the back half of her races she picks up momentum. She’s got the speed to go out strong and then the endurance to hold it. It’s uncommon to have both skill sets; usually you have either got the speed or the endurance. That makes her really powerful.
“Mentally and emotionally, she is superior, in terms of handling the weight and responsibility of the pressure that comes with competing at an Olympics. You see a few superstars pop up technically, but they get to an Olympics and they just can’t handle the weight or the pressure. I think you can put money on Arnie, you just know she is going to give you a good result.
“That combination of her technical and physical skills, combined with her mental and emotional maturity is what makes her a really top-tier athlete.”
For Titmus, she isn’t close to capping out on her potential. And she knows it.
“It’s about trying to get the best out of yourself,” she says. “That is why I still swim, because I believe I have got more in the tank. That is my goal at these Games, to try and get every skerrick out of myself.”
Steph Rice will appear as a swimming expert on Stan Sport’s Olympics Daily and Paris Preview shows throughout the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.