Australian swimmer Ariarne Titmus won gold in the women’s 200-meter freestyle, and she set a new Olympic record with a 1:53.50 time.

At first, it seemed like Titmus wouldn’t earn a medal at all as she was trailing the top three for the first 100 meters. However, Titmus is known for her lightning finishes, and the Australian swimmer dominated the final 50 meters to pull off the upset. Hong Kong’s Siobhan Bernadette Haughey held the lead until the final 20 meters. Haughey took silver while Canadian Penny Oleksiak earned bronze.

“I’m bloody exhausted,” Titmus said. “That was a tough one, I knew Siobhan really wanted this, I could tell by the way that she swam yesterday. So I knew it would be tough to beat her. Honestly, it’s not the time that I thought I could do this morning, but it’s the Olympics, and there’s a lot of other things going on, so it’s just about winning here. I’m very happy.”

Her victory gave the Australian women their third individual swimming gold. It was Titmus’ second gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. More importantly, it was also another victory for her over rival Katie Ledecky. Ledecky was unable to keep up and finished fifth in the event. It was the first time in Ledecky’s career that she didn’t medal.

Before this event, Titmus defeated Ledecky in the 400-meter freestyle to end Ledecky’s streak.

Australia’s Ariarne Titmus out-swam United States star Katie Ledecky in the 400-meter freestyle to win the gold medal. Titmus finished with the second-fastest time in history. 

Titmus’ coach, Dean Boxall, made major headlines alongside the swimmer due to his sideline antics. As Titmus overcame a body length gap behind Ledecky and took the lead late in the race, Boxall could not contain his excitement. He could be seen on his perch above the pool punching the air, ripping his mark off, kicking and thrusting the barrier.

A young girl volunteering appeared to attempt to calm Boxall, yet the coach was not phased. 

Boxall’s excitement turned to tears as Titmus collected her gold medal on the podium. “I could see Dean on the other side bawling his eyes out,” said Titmus to the Agence France-Presse. 

“I don’t feel the hype, it’s more you guys. I just try to race the best I can and ignore everything else,” added Titmus. “I honestly thought I’d be more nervous coming into this but Dean said to me, ‘Look, you know how to swim, this is just a big swimming race, you just have to do what you know how to do.'”

Boxall’s antics made headlines and were a major talking point on social media. A Morning Herald reporter, Vince Rugari, stated: “I’d never heard of him before but pretty confident he’ll now never have to buy himself a beer ever again. How good #Tokyo2020.”