Teenage swimmer breaks longest standing female swim record

In this final section of the 2023 world championship in Fukuoka, Japan on the evening of July 26, O'Callaghan finished first with a record of 1 minute 52 seconds 85.

This is 13% faster than the world record - 1 minute 52 seconds 98 - set by Italian swimmer Federica Pellegrini in 2009. This is the longest-lasting record in women's swimming events, before being O. 'Callaghan rushed.

With the final race about 75 meters left, 2021 Olympic champion and O'Callaghan teammate Ariarne Titmus still leads by body length. But for the rest, the 19-year-old has done "the unthinkable", as News Australia describes. She erased the distance in turn, then surpassed Titmus in the last meters. The two athletes reached the finish line in parallel, but O'Callaghan reached out and touched the edge of the tank first.

Titmus finished second with a time of 1 minute 53 seconds 01, surpassing the Olympic record of 1 minute 53 seconds 50 set by herself in 2021. Meanwhile, Summer McIntosh of Canada finished third with a time of one minute 53 seconds 65.

Before this year's tournament, O'Callaghan suffered a knee injury and had to take a break from playing for a while. "I'm really excited," said the teen swimmer. "I didn't expect this when I came to this world. I just wanted to have fun and try."

O'Callaghan is the first Australian swimmer since Shane Gould in 1972 to hold the women's 200m freestyle record. "We will never forget this moment," commentator Mat Thompson told Channel 9.

At this year's world championships, O'Callaghan also won a gold medal and broke the record in the 4x100 m freestyle relay. She and three teammates Shayna Jack, Meg Harris and Emma McKeon finished first with a time of three minutes 27 seconds 96, breaking the record of three minutes 29 seconds 69 set by the Australian women's swimming team at the 2021 Olympics of which she is a member.

O'Callaghan has won a total of two Olympic golds and eight golds at world championships. Her forte is the content of 100m, 200m, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x100m medley.