At NSW champs in Sydney today, Libby Trickett out her new straight-arm freestyle on display and - looking like new training partner Eamon Sullivan - clocked 53.81sec over 100m freestyle.
Now under the guidance of coach Grant Stoelwinder, Trickett, the Olympic silver medallist in the 100m behind Britta Steffen of Germany, is out to defend her world title from Melbourne 2007.
Trickett says she is benefitting from greater balance and rhythm gleaned from her new stroke. The true test of its efficacy will come at Aussie trials for Rome 2009 next month. A 53.8 a month out suggests a change has been as good as a working rest for the world record holder.
Her training partners, Andrew Lauterstein and Sullivan finished 1-2 in the 100m free, on 48.99 and 49.63. The world record holder is some 2.5sec off best pace but will doubtless be happy to have put in a sub-50 effort a month after a hip op.
Double Olympic medley champion Stephanie Rice, on a 4:51 over 400m medley a few weeks back while swimming through injury and in heavy training, got a little closer to her sub 4:30 world record with a solid 4:40.29. In 2007, that was just about the best Rice had ever done. After fast-forward flotation-suit year, the value of comparison pales unless you know what she wore. The sport must be viewed in that context at least for a little longer. Rice swam some 11sec off her world record pace.
Awaiting sentencing next week after admitting to assaulting former Dolphin Simon Cowley in a brawl last year, Nick D'Arcy swam to a 1:56.47 win in the 200m butterfly. Dumped from his Olympic team last year, D'Arcy is out to make amends, telling his national media: "It's a tremendous honour to represent your country ... showing people that's who I am. I am a swimmer and at the end of the day all that infamy that surrounds me, it's not who I am, it's not what I am about, I am about swimming at the moment and I just want to remind people that's who I am.''
With Thorpey and Hackett gone, time for the next generation of freestylers to step up. Robert Hurley took the 400m free in a personal best of 3:47.06, fifth best ever by an Australian. A little adrift yet was teenager Ryan Napoleon, on 3:49.11.
