Australia: Eamon Sullivan, former 50m and 100m free world record holder, raced the 100m free heats at Aussie nationals in Sydney this morning (Down Under), despite the fact that a cortisone injection failed to work and the hip that was operated on recently is still sore. That marked his fifth hip op. Coach Grant Stoelwinder told reporter Todd Balym that it would be a fluke for Sullivan to make a top six relay berth. "He still has a fair bit of pain in the hip. He is a little bit nervous obviously because he doesn't want to go backwards again, he just wants to keep going forward," said the coach. "We talked about how there is not much to save it for this year, we will just have a go at the heats and take it race by race. If it gets too uncomfortable we will pull out at some point.'' No sign of that, however, as the sprint ace clocked 49.06sec in morning heats, with Kyle Richardson second through, on 49.64sec. Speaking to reporters in Sydney the former world record holder and Olympic silver medallist described his hip as felt "anything but comfortable". But the swimming "felt pretty good ... This puts me back in the race but I don't want to put any pressure on myself. The main thing is being back in the pool and in the racing environment. This is only the second 100m I have done this season." The heats of the 800m free saw 200m freestyle champion Blair Evans, 18, clock 8.35.20 for her claim to lane four in the final tomorrow, either side of her Melissa Gorman (8:35.68) and Katie Goldman (8:35.87).
USA: You can read a fine report on the founder of the North Baltimore Aquatic Club, Murray Stephens, penned by Casey Barrett over at Swimnetwork.com. There's a fab line in there: four 15-year-olds have made the US Olympic team for Games of late: and all hailed from NBAC. Can you guess who they are without peeking first? Stephens, meanwhile, will be inducted at the International Swimming Hall of Fame this spring.
France: Alain Bernard has told L'Equipe that he will sit down with coach Denis Auguin in the next two weeks and plan out his voyage to London 2012 and the defence of his 100m free crown. The sprinter gave a hint that he will spend less time racing and more time preparing for a while. Bernard, who turns 27 in May, said: "This is a transition year and it needs to be taken that way. That's part of a real overall strategy set up to go to London. He will race at French nationals at Saint-Raphaël April 13-19, the meet doubling as trials for the European Championships in Budapest in August. Tomorrow Bernard will be found racing at a regional four-day meet in Paris, ending Sunday.
