Mollie O’Callaghan, 19, broke the 200m freestyle record at the World Aquatics Championships, yesterday (26 July) – achieving a time of 1 minute and 52.85 seconds. This is 0.13 seconds faster than the previous record held by Italy’s Federica Pellegrini.
O’Callaghan won gold, finishing 0.16 seconds ahead of Ariarne Titmus, who claimed silver.
“If I’m being honest, I feel shaken, I was just expecting to have fun,” O’Callaghan said in tears after the race. “Coming away with the record is just amazing.”
It was the longest World Record in the women field!
Federica Pellegrini (29th July 2009) 🤜🤛Mollie O'Callaghan (26th July 2023)#AQUAFukuoka23 pic.twitter.com/RyiWXbACIS
— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) July 26, 2023
The record had been previously held by Pellegrini since 2009, and therefore is one of the longest held world records in Women’s long-course swimming.
In an interview after her race, O’Callaghan was asked if she thought she was capable of breaking the record.
“No, not really,” she said. “Heading into this, I’ve said this many times but I wanted to have fun and enjoy it and try my best…To come out with a world record was really unexpected for me.”
“I’m just so proud of myself to do that, and it was just such an unexpected moment.”