The Dolphins’ superstar is paving her own way with trademark fearlessness.

On the third night of the Australian Selection Trials, Titmus snatched the 200m freestyle world record from teammate Mollie O’Callaghan in 1:52.23 to become the first Australian woman since Shane Gould in 1972 to concurrently hold the 200m and 400m freestyle world records.

In a remarkably quick race, all eight swimmers went faster than the eighth-placed time at Fukuoka 2023, with five of the top six finishers also part of Dean Boxall’s program at Brisbane’s St Peters Western club.

After the final Titmus paid credit to her longtime coach was watching from high in the stands.

“To have five girls under Dean in that final is incredible and it’s a credit to him,” Titmus said.

“When you’ve got someone like that in your corner, you’d beat everyone. He has the most passion and the most pride to be a part of this swim team.”

Titmus rose to fame in Tokyo by dethroning the legend of Katie Ledecky, who had dominated women’s freestyle for the best part of a decade.

She had earlier put Ledecky on notice with her come-from-behind win over her at the Gwangju world championships in South Korea in 2019 where she inflicted the first international 400m defeat.

Tokyo Olympics was also the start of Titmus’s own mythical narrative after she won the 200m freestyle, finished second in the 800m freestyle and earned a bronze medal in the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay.

A ferocious, hard-working competitor, she currently has won 24 medals in international competition. And she has only just begun.

The Tasmanian native first stamped her mark on the world swimming stage at the 2017 World Championships, where she won a bronze medal as part of the Women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team. She then went on to finish fourth in the 400m freestyle event.

A year later, in front of a home crowd at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Titmus dominated; winning three gold medals in the Women’s 400m freestyle, the 800m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay, as well as silver in the 200m freestyle.

At the 2019 World Championships, Ariarne took top honours in the Women’s 400m freestyle and the 4x200m freestyle relay, whilst also earning silver and bronze in the 200m freestyle and 800m freestyle, respectively.

And then at Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022, Ariarne became the just the second swimmer to claim the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle treble at the Commonwealth Games – all in Games records. The feat had previously only been achieved by Australian Karen Moras in Edinburgh in 1970.

At the 2022 Australian Swimming Championships, Ariarne set a new 400m freestyle world record with a time of 3:56:40, breaking Ledecky’s former mark set at Rio 2016 by +0.6s.

At the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Ariarne was controlled in the 400m freestyle prelims to qualify for the final in lane five. In the final, she led after the first lap and dominated the rest of the race, winning in 3:55.38 to beat Ledecky and claim the world record back from Canada’s Summer McIntosh.

In the 200m freestyle final she claimed silver and then anchored the Australian 4x200m freestyle relay team, who won gold in a world record time.

The workhorse then backed up for the 800m free and equalled her best time in 8:13.59, to finished third behind gold-medal winner Ledecky.

Just two months after Fukuoka, Ariarne revealed she had undergone surgery to remove two benign tumours on her right ovary and after almost 10 weeks recuperating, she made her return to swimming at the Queensland State Championships.

However, Ariarne elected to bypass the 2024 World Championships in Doha as she prepares for the Paris Olympics.

The 400m final at Fukuoka, in which Ariarne left both Ledecky and McIntosh in her wake, was described as the “race of the century”. Ariarne’s victory secured her place as the undisputed champion of women’s middle-distance swimming.

It also sets the scene for what will no doubt be the race to watching at the Paris Games.

POD POP UP STAT: The gluten-free athlete is a massive fan of the Hawthorn AFL club and lists tennis star Rafael Nadal as one of her most admired athletes. She is also an excellent cook and don’t be surprised if you see her on MasterChef Australia at some stage.