Trickett breaks 50m world record
Sprint machine Libby Trickett has set herself up for a haul of
gold medals at the Beijing Olympics after becoming the world’s
fastest woman in the pool tonight.
Trickett (nee Lenton) became the nation’s first woman to hold
the 50m freestyle world record as Australia took a stranglehold in
the sprinting arena following speedster Eamon Sullivan’s
record-crushing feats this week.
She put towering upstart Cate Campbell firmly in her place by
stopping the clock at 23.97 seconds to slash 0.12s off the
five-day-old mark set by Dutchwoman Marleen Veldhuis in
Eindhoven.
The Queenslander ripped more than half a second off her best
time in the one-lap dash to finish her brilliant meet on a
high.
She was battling bronchitis early in the week but still came
within two tenths of a second of Inge De Bruijn’s imposing 100m
butterfly world record.
To top that she destroyed German Britta Steffen’s 100m freestyle
record on Thursday night, slashing 0.42 off the mark in her time of
52.88s.
She is favourite to win all three events in Beijing, not to
mention the 4×100m medley relay which is looking bullet proof and
the title defence of the 4×100m taking shape.
Trickett, 23, celebrated the eighth world record of the meet
like a teenager, jumping up and down with joy and wearing a beaming
smile after claiming the unexpected mark.
“To be honest I really thought the 50 world record was going to
be out of my reach for a lot longer,” she said.
“It has always been a bit of a target and it has always seemed
such a distant time that I never really thought I could get
there.
“But Marleen Veldhuis breaking the world record the other day
sort of made it more real, especially after going 52.8.”
It was also a victory for short people, with the 169cm Trickett
towered over by six-footers in the event, including Campbell this
evening.
“It is great, someone like Marleen Veldhuis towers over me as
well and she has more muscles than little Cate and she is more
intimidating than little Cate, so does Britta Steffen and a lot of
other girls around the world,” she said.
“I have had so much fun, I know I am a pretty powerful person
with a muscular physique, I use my strengths where I have them and
used them tonight.”
Campbell, 15, was expected to be the one hunting down Veldhuis’s
time tonight but her second placing will suit coach Simon Cusack
just fine.
Her camp has limited her media appearances this week and the
fact she will go into the Olympics as Australia’s No.2 will keep
her off the radar even more in China.
Grant Hackett (14 minutes 48.65 seconds) won the 1500m freestyle
tonight ahead of Craig Stevens and is normally the star of the
final night of action for Australia.
But the times are changing as evidenced by the brilliant
performances of Trickett, Sullivan and Stephanie Rice this
week.
Hackett is aiming for a third straight 1500m title in Beijing
and was glad to clear the first hurdle of earning the Olympic
swim.
“That is the first step out of the way, now I’m really looking
at putting my head down and doing some hard training,” he said. “It
would be great to win a third title.”
42-member team picked
Australian swimming has nominated a 42-person team for the
Olympics:
Men: Grant Brits (NSW), Leith Brodie (Qld), Ashley Callus
(Qld), Nick D’Arcy (Qld), Ashley Delaney (Vic), Nicholas Ffrost
(Qld), Grant Hackett (Vic), Andrew Lauterstein (Qld), Kenrick Monk
(NSW), Patrick Murphy (Vic), Travis Nederpelt (WA), Kirk Palmer
(NSW), Adam Pine (ACT), Brenton Rickard (Qld), Christian Sprenger
(Qld), Nic Sprenger (Qld), Craig Stevens (NSW), Hayden Stoeckel
(SA), Eamon Sullivan (WA), Matt Targett (Vic).
Women: Angie Bainbridge (NSW), Bronte Barratt (Qld), Cate
Campbell (Qld), Alicia Coutts (Qld), Lara Davenport (NSW), Sophie
Edington (NSW), Sally Foster (ACT), Felicity Galvez (NSW), Samantha
Hamill (Qld), Belinda Hocking (NSW), Leisel Jones (Vic), Linda
MacKenzie (Qld), Alice Mills (Qld), Meagen Nay (Qld), Kylie Palmer
(Qld), Shayne Reese (Vic), Stephanie Rice (Qld), Jessicah Schipper
(Qld), Melanie Schlanger (Qld), Emily Seebohm (Qld), Libby Trickett
(Qld), Tarnee White (Qld).
AAP
