Australian Teenager Mollie O’Callaghan Breaks 200m Freestyle Record

Australian Teenager Mollie O’Callaghan Breaks 200m Freestyle Record
Aoibhin Sharkey
Aoibhin Sharkey

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.”

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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.

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“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.”

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