Jessicah Schipper continues to dominate at the Games Swimming Trials.
In the 200 metres Butterfly final, all eyes were on Jessicah Schipper as she was 0.87 seconds in front of world record pace at the 50 metre turn, up by 1.43 at the halfway, then had 0.58 breathing space on the final turn.
Clocking 2 minutes 6.25 seconds at the end of the race, the 10th-fastest time in history, Schipper fell just 0.64 outside the world record of Poland's Otylia Jedrzejczak.
Australia's concern that it may not have a swimmer in the 1500 metres at the Games without Grant Hackett were erased last night, but only just.
Kurtis MacGillivary won the event from Travis Nederpelt and Cameron Smith, but MacGillivary's time of 15:22.68 gave him a world ranking of 24 in the event, not high enough under the selection criteria for him to qualify for the team.
However, Nederpelt, who clocked 15:28.65, and who had already qualified for the team in the 200 Butterfly and the 400 Individual Medley (IM), is now able to swim the 1500 at the Games as well.
Jim Piper produced a Commonwealth record in the 200m Breaststroke, 2:10.51 better than his own Australian record of 2:10.70 and the Commonwealth mark of Briton Ian Edmond.
"I'm very excited about that time and I can still improve on it by Commonwealth Games," Piper told The Age. "I could hear the cheering get quite loud so I knew I was going pretty quickly."
Brett Hawke won his fifth Australian title in the 50 metres with a solid time of 22.29 seconds. West Australian Eamon Sullivan was second in 22.33, with Ashley Callus third in 22.68.
Hawke needs to get close to beating 22 seconds if he wants to outdo South African speedster Roland Schoeman in the 50m at the Commonwealth Games.
Jennifer Reilly completed a successful comeback when she reclaimed her 400 IM title with a 4:43.72 effort. It was the seventh time the West Australian has won the national title.
Leisel Jones breaks the third world record of the Games Swimming Trials.
DAY FIVE--Leisel Jones continued her stunning week in the pool when she became the first woman to dip below one minute, six seconds for the 100-metres breaststroke, breaking American Jessica Hardy’s mark and posting a new one of 1:05.71.
It was her second world record in a matter of days in what proves to be a stunningly fast debut of the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.
Ominously, Jones believes she can go faster. "I think there’s still things I can improve in the 100. I had a pretty dodgy finish and there are still things to work on," Jones said to The Age.
Although the women continue to steal the show, Adam Pine made history by becoming the first Australian to swim at four Commonwealth Games when he beat Michael Klim in the 100-metres butterfly.
In other finals action, Linda MacKenzie added the 400 metres freestyle title to the 200 metres title she won on the opening night, clocking 4:09.33 to just out-touch teenager Bronte Barratt, while Brenton Rickard won the 50 metres breaststroke to add to his victory earlier in the week in the 100 metres version of that event.
DAY FOUR--Australia’s dominance in the women’s events at the Commonwealth Games seems an almost certainty after Jessicah Schipper became the latest to deliver a record breaking performance.
World champion Schipper put the brakes on the Libby Lenton juggernaut, but she needed to break her own Commonwealth record to do it in the Women’s 100m Butterfly final.
Schipper became the second fastest swimmer in the history of that event, stopping the clock at 57.15 seconds, a mark only topped by Dutch legend Inge de Bruijn.
“I’m so excited, I can’t believe it after the amazing year I had last year,” Schipper said after the swim. “So to back it up is awesome because you know when you are racing the girls in Australia you are racing the best in the world.”
Lenton came in second with a Personal Best time, as did Alice Mills in third.
For the third night in a row Ian Thorpe was overshadowed by one of Australia’s “Golden Girls” but the five-time Olympic champ still won the 100m freestyle and booked a second individual Commonwealth Games swim.
He got away slowly and was fifth at the turn but Ian Thorpe came home with his trade mark withering final burst to take out the men’s 100m freestyle, his 20th National title, in a time of 49.28.
Thorpe beat Michael Klim, Eamon Sullivan and Ashley Callus, with all four booking their places on the Australian Team for the Commonwealth Games.
Like in his 200m victory two nights ago, Thorpe was below his best and left the pool disappointed, but having qualified to swim the event at the Commonwealth Games.
Thorpe acknowledge after the race that he would need to be faster come Games time to beat out South African stars Roland Schoeman and Ryk Neethling.
“It was alright, not anything special,” Thorpe said. “I thought I would go faster tonight than last night but I’ve got a Commonwealth Games swim now so that’s good. I’m going to have to go faster that that at the Commonwealth Games.”
Klim said he was happy to finish second and the clash with the South Africans 4x100m Freestyle Relay team was a very important one.
“It’s very important for us because they took the mantle in Athens,” the 28-year-old said. “We have three of us from the Sydney Olympic team and young Eamon and we need to be swimming faster than tonight.
It was an incredible battle in the women’s 800m freestyle as Melissa Gorman wiped six seconds off her personal best, stopping the clock in a time of 8:32.39 to highlight an epic 16 lap battle with 2004 Olympian Sarah Paton.
Gorman and Paton seem a strong chance to make the Games team, but will wait alongside third place Caroline South to see if their world rankings will qualify them for the team.
Meanwhile, 2004 Olympic finalist Travis Nederpelt stormed over the top of fellow Western Australian Adam Lucas in the final lap of the men’s 400m Individual Medley to claim his second title of the week.
Nederpelt turned at the 300m mark 2.42 seconds behind his rival and triumphed by 2.09 seconds tearing an incredible four and a half seconds off Lucas in the final two laps.
In the end Nederpelt clocked 4:20.47, ahead of Lucas’ 4:22.56 and fast finishing Ephraim Hannant (4:23.65).
And Katrina Lewis, Prue Watt and Lichelle Clarke all ensured they would be considered for Australia’s Commonwealth Games team when they finished 1-2-3 in the final of the women’s Elite Athletes with a Disability 100m freestyle.
EAD events are decided by the swimmer that swims closest to the world record for their disability class.
After the race Williams said she was excited about the Commonwealth Games and looked forward to racing for her country.
“The support this week has been so good,” Williams said. “At the Games I’ll try and do everybody proud.”
Action continues in the Commonwealth Games pool at the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre until 4 February.
DAY THREE--The third day of Commonwealth Games Swimming Trials saw the third world record fall, with Leisel Jones crushing her own 200m Breaststroke mark by an incredible 1.18 seconds.
Jones kept the crowd on the edge of their seats throughout the 200m, attacking the record early to be 0.19 seconds under at the 50m turn, but then trailed at the 100m and final turn, before producing an astonishing last lap of 35.52 to obliterate her old record with a time of 2:20.54.
There was no world record, but there was still plenty of excitement when Libby Lenton held off a late challenge from world and Olympic champion Jodie Henry to win the Women’s 100m Freestyle.
Lenton clocked the fourth fastest time in history when she hit the wall in 53.67, a mere quarter second slower than her world record performance in the semis.
A new Australian champion was also crowned in Men’s 50m Butterfly, when dual Olympic gold medallist Michael Klim, swimming just five days after the birth of his first child, Stella, edged out former world record holder Matt Welsh by a fingernail.
In the Women’s 100m Backstroke Tayliah Zimmer snuck under the Australian record of her club mate and training partner Sophie Edington by just 0.06 seconds, with Olympic relay gold medallist Giaan Rooney coming in third after leading at the 50m turn.
Three swimmers who are almost certain to make the team are Athens Paralympic hero Matthew Cowdrey, defending Commonwealth champion Ben Austin and dual Paralympian Alex Harris, who finished 1-2-3 in the final of the men’s Elite Athletes with a Disability 50m Freestyle.
Libby Lenton is the fastest qualifier at the Telstra Swimming Trials.
DAY TWO--Libby Lenton slashed a tenth of a second off the 100m Freestyle world record when she set out to prove her coach Stephan Widmer wrong after her questioned her motivation following a second-place finish in the 200m Freestyle final.
Lenton's time of 53.42 seconds put her as the fastest qualifier, ahead of Henry in the classic tug-of-war which saw Henry qualify second and reigning title-holder Alice Mills third for what promised to be a final every bit as spectacular as the Olympic trials in Sydney in 2004.
Jade Edmistone won the 50m breaststroke title ahead of 100m champion Leisel Jones, while Brooke Hanson was surprisingly relegated to fourth place by Brisbane's Tarnee White, who qualified for her first national team since 2002.
And in the Elite Athletes with a Disability events, Matthew Cowdrey clocked a new world record in the final event of the evening, the men’s 200 metre individual medley.
The falling of records overshadowed the long-awaited return to the pool of Ian Thorpe, back after a 18 month hiatus from championship competition.
The five-time Olympic gold medallist blitzed the competition in the 200m Freestyle to finish two seconds ahead of his nearest competitor, but was surprised and disappointed to find himself more than two seconds outside his own world-record time.
And Matt Welsh claimed his ninth national title, and fifth in a row when he held off a strong challenge in the 50m backstroke.
Jade Edmistone of Australia after the 50m Breastroke final during the Games Trials.
DAY ONE--23-year-old Queenslander Jade Edmistone smashed her own 50m Breaststroke record of 30.45 seconds to 30.31 seconds to claim the first world record in the new Commonwealth Games pool.
Libby Lenton’s second place finish to AIS swimmer Linda MacKenzie in 200m Freestyle was followed by an admission she’d placed too much pressure on herself to produce something special after almost breaking the 200m Freestyle world record last year.
With Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett both out of competition for the Men’s 400m Freestyle for the first time in over a decade, it was the chance for Thorpe’s training partner Craig Stevens to claim his maiden title ahead of Nick Ffrost and Brendan Hughes.
In the Elite Athletes with a Disability events, 2004 Paralympian Sarah Bowen won the 100m Breaststroke while Annabelle Williams claimed the 50m Freestyle.
In the men’s races, Daniel Bell was victorious in the 100m Breaststroke before Paralympic hero Matt Cowdrey took out the 50m Freestyle from fellow star Ben Austin.
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