NSW STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS, Night 2, Finals: Ariarne Titmus And Lani Pallister Stage 400m freestyle thriller in Sydney

NSW STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS, Night 2, Finals: Ariarne Titmus And Lani Pallister Stage A 400m free thriller in Sydney

Tokyo Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Ariarne Titmus had to pull out all-stops to protect a 400m freestyle mantle in a classic duel with reigning world short course champion Lani Pallister on night two of the Championships in Sydney tonight.

That final 50m split of 29.55 seconds from Titmus (St Peters Western, QLD) was just fast enough to out-touch a brave Pallister (Griffith University, QLD) who clocked 29.97 – the two-time world champion coming from behind to claim the victory by just 0.26secs.

The  pair had slugged it out, swimming eye-ball to eye-ball for eight laps  – Titmus winning in 4:02.39 to Pallister’s 4:02.65 – in a sign of things to come at the Australian Championships in April on the Gold Coast and the Olympic Trials in June.

It may have been seven seconds outside Titmus’ world record of 3:55.38 but with both girls in heavy training and after going hammer and tongs over 800m the night before (Titmus winning in 8:17.87 to Pallister’s 8:19.23) the pair dug deep to deliver the race of the meet so far at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre.

Pallister only just half-a-second off her personal best time, the 4:02.07 she clocked at the Berlin World Cup last October with Titmus’ club mate, 2023 world junior champion  Jamie Perkins third home in 4:10.47 – also five seconds outside her pb of 4:05.72 set in Israel last year.

The splits tell the story of just what a ding-dong battle it was, Titmus starting stronger, Pallister lifting in the middle before the champ found something on the bell lap to take a split decision.

Women 400 LC Meter Freestyle

1 ARIARNE TITMUS,        23 ST PETERS WESTERN          r:+0.73  28.09        58.07 (29.98)        1:28.74 (30.67)     1:59.65 (30.91)        2:30.75 (31.10)     3:01.94 (31.19)        3:32.84 (30.90)     4:02.39 (29.55)

2 LANI PALLISTER,       21 GRIFFITH UNI          r:+0.68  28.10        58.74 (30.64)        1:29.25 (30.51)     2:00.01 (30.76)        2:30.75 (30.74)     3:01.82 (31.07)        3:32.68 (30.86)     4:02.65 (29.97)

3 JAMIEPERKINS,          19 ST PETERS WESTERN             r:+0.76  28.43        59.46 (31.03)        1:30.77 (31.31)     2:02.78 (32.01)        2:34.59 (31.81)     3:07.10 (32.51)        3:39.45 (32.35)     4:10.47 (31.02)