By: Michelle Yao

The Olympic champion will be asleep halfway across the world when the finals for the women’s 400-meter freestyle event are swum and won at swimming’s world championships in Budapest.

21-year-old Ariarne Titmus stated, “I’ll surely be sleeping” (the race will start at 1:30 a.m.).

Despite achieving a world record and having the opportunity to compete against her main competitor, Katie Ledecky of the United States, Titmus, will be missing from the year’s most important international swim event. She simply doesn’t want to go, and that is the only explanation.

It was a brave move on her part to skip the world championships.

Dean Boxall, Titmus’ coach, stated that he and Titmus are aware of the conversations over her scheduling selections, as well as the desire for more Titmus-Ledecky matchups.

Most swimmers in her situation would have jumped at the chance to compete at the worlds against Ledecky, who has been the sport’s number one for nearly a decade. Titmus, on the other hand, is not like most swimmers.

Instead, she will compete in the Commonwealth Games, a sporting event for former British colonies. They will begin in England in early July.

It’s unknown if Timus and Ledecky will race again. Ledecky has opted not to fly to Australia in August for a two-nation competition called Duel in the Pool. This could have been the site of a rematch between Ledecky and Timus. This implies that these two swimmers may only compete in a few races until the next Olympics in Paris in 2024.

Timus, who was born in Launceston, a tiny town in Tasmania, an island south of Australia’s mainland, started competing when he was 7 years old after seeing the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She advanced quite rapidly, soon she began competing in national competitions.

However, as her career progressed, her parents were aware of a problem. The swimming facilities and instructors a gifted young swimmer like her needed were not available in Tasmania. Titmus’ parents considered moving to support their daughter’s profession, but Titmus, as a teenager, did not immediately agree.

She remarked, “I was so content with my life down there, with my friends and school and everything.”

Titmus came to a revelation after being selected for Australia’s junior world championship team. She had to work for her goal. She had to chase her dream.