Leisel Jones, Brooke Hanson, and now, you can add Jade Edmistone to the cachet of Australian female breaststroke talents as the virtually unknown 22-year old swimmer broke out as the star of day one at the Australian Short Course Swimming Championships.

Edmistone, who had retired from the sport at the age of 18 and only come back within the past year and a half, broke Brooke Hanson's Australian and Commonwealth records in preliminaries with a time of 30.19, the second fastest in history. In semifinal one, she showed the morning swim was no fluke, setting the pool alight with a time of 29.96 to tie the world record mark of another once-retired breaststroker, Sweden's Emma Igelstrom. Hanson herself swam a swift 30.32 to win semifinal two, faster than her prior Commonwealth record, setting up a huge duel for finals tomorrow.

Brenton Rickard also kept the breaststroke action going, breaking the Australian record in the men's 100m breaststroke semis with a time of 58.53.

In finals, the best swim as well as the most dominating win went to medley specialist Lara Carroll. Setting the third-fastest time in Australian history, Carroll was ahead from the start and never looked back, touching in 4:35.89, nearly six seconds ahead of newcomer Angie Bainbridge (4:41.78), who may be a name to watch in the future.

Queenslander Jessicah Schipper, still riding high off a terrific performance in Athens, kept the momentum going with a win in the 200 fly. It wasn't an easy one though, by any means. Schipper went out fast with Olympic 200 fly finalist Felicity Galvez never far behind. Schipper, primarily a 100 flyer, swam a gutsy last 50 to hold onto a slight lead as Galvez used her experience to edge ever closer. At the finish, Schipper touched in 2:07.58 to become the fourth-fastest Australian ever. Galvez touched in 2:07.87 as both swimmers were nearly three seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

The only men's individual final of the evening was the 200 freestyle, an event with a storied history in Australia. Nicholas Sprenger, who won a silver medal on the 800 freestyle relay in Athens, improved his personal best by more than a second to win in 1:44.56. His time moved him up to fifth-fastest Australian behind Thorpe, Hackett, Klim, and William Kirby. Andrew Mewing also made a quantum leap, taking second in 1:45.08 to rank seventh on the Australian all-time rankings.

Queensland's Yeronga Park (3:17.64) won the men's 400 freestyle relay over Victoria's team from Nunawading (3:18.46), while Victoria's women from Carey Aquatic (8:03.72) dominated the 800 freestyle relay, touching nearly four seconds ahead of fellow Victorians Haileybury Waterlions (8:07.44)