Weight off Titmus, Chalmers shoulders

GOLD COAST • Ariarne Titmus made a successful return to the pool after a three-month layoff with a shoulder problem by claiming the 200m freestyle title at Australia's national championships yesterday.

The 400m freestyle world champion posted a time of 1 min 55.43sec in the final, the third fastest of the year behind American rival Katie Ledecky, who swam 1:54.40 and 1:55.40 in California last week.

"It's good to get it out of the way," the 20-year-old said.

"Yesterday, I was very nervous. I felt like I had a lot of expectation on me and people were kind of wondering - even myself - wondering where I would be.

"I've been training quite solid for a month now post everything with my shoulder. That's one thing, it's a different thing to come out here and put a race together. You can be training well, but you never know how well you're going to race and because I haven't had much racing practice, I was a little bit worried."

Olympic 100m free champion Kyle Chalmers, on the comeback trail after shoulder surgery, claimed the men's 200m free title in 1:47.03.

He later revealed his desire to be a part of what he believes is a gold-medal chance in the men's 4x200m relay at Tokyo.

"I've had very little racing since my shoulder surgery, this is only my second competition back, second 200 freestyle, so for me it's all just about building the confidence back up and belief in my body," the 22-year-old said. "To tick another heat and final off, it's fantastic."

Australia will hold its Olympic swimming trials in June in Adelaide.

In London, world-record holder Adam Peaty declared himself ahead of schedule for the Games after swimming the fastest 100m breaststroke of the year at Wednesday's British selection trials.

The reigning Olympic champion had already made sure of his ticket to Japan but the motivation was clear as he won the final in 57.39sec, the fifth fastest of all time, less than 100 days to go until the start of the Olympics.

Peaty, the only man to have swum the 100m under 58sec, recorded a sub-58 second time for the 15th time. The 26-year-old said the birth of his son last September was driving him "like nothing else" before warning his rivals he was "taking a lot of confidence into the summer".

REUTERS