The Tokyo 2020 dual Olympic gold medallist has the 200m and 400m freestyle titles to defend at Paris 2024, which means whether she likes it or not Ariarne goes from being the hunter to the hunted.

Despite how strong the competition is in the women's 400m freestyle event, particularly between Katie Ledecky (USA) and Summer McIntosh (CAN), plus how high the media interest is - Ariarne's motivation to compete in Paris mostly comes from a different place.

"It's about trying to get the best out of myself and see what else I can achieve within myself personally... not just performing in the pool but trying to really pave the way for swimmers and young girls around Australia," Ariarne said.

"I really feel like I have a responsibility to be a role model, not just as an athlete but as a person and I feel like it's really important to me that the public get to know who I am as a person beyond being an athlete... that's more so what my goals are now, rather than thinking Olympic gold is everything. For Tokyo, swimming was everything."

At the 2023 World Championships in July Ariarne gave herself the task of reclaiming the 400m freestyle world record, a record that had been held by McIntosh, Ledecky and Ariarne since Tokyo 2020.

The Tasmanian lowered the world record McIntosh set from 3:56.08 to 3:55.38, with the satisfaction Ariarne received from that she described as better than winning Olympic gold in the same event in 2021.

"I think in the 400m [at the World Championships] I probably performed beyond what I thought I could. I don't think I realised how much pent up, nervous energy I had for that race and I feel like I really used it to my advantage and just went out there and raced quite fearless.

"I thought the only way to win that race was to go out there and leave nothing in the tank, take it from the start, not try and hold back and crawl my way back into the race. I feel like that got the best out of me on the day."

Fellow Dolphin Mollie O'Callaghan has also emerged as one of the world's best 200m freestyle swimmers and became the world champion in a world record time of 1:52.85, with Ariarne not far behind in Fukuoka for silver (1:53.01).

It sets up another thrilling Olympics in Paris, where Ariarne could also go after medals in the women's 800m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay.

"The Olympics is pretty much the next big comp, that's what we're gearing up for now. We have Olympic trials before then and a few more domestic competitions, but really it's go time... banking away as much work as possible and fine tuning a few areas. There's a lot of work to be done," Ariarne said.

"Going into the Olympics now in the 400m especially, I have a lot of confidence. I think going to the Olympics next year to try and defend both my titles is going to be a tough gig but it's definitely my main goal."

Another thing is for sure, the rivalry with her competitors in the pool... stays in the pool.

"For Katie [Ledecky] and I, I've been racing her since I was 16 years old. We get along personally, great, there's no rivalry there whatsoever beyond racing. I really value that."

"But certainly, in the pool... the race is on.

"With Summer [McIntosh], I haven't raced her too much and she's still quite young and getting into racing in the international scene and she's a bit more different [to Ledecky]."