Australian Grand Prix, Canberra: Meet Ends With World Record Scare in Women’s 50 Fly

CANBERRA, Australia, April 26. THE always exciting Monaco sprint-style events nearly produced the third world record of the meet at the Australian Grand Prix held in Canberra. Felicity Galvez almost wiped out her two-week old world record in the women's 50 fly.

Libby Trickett commenced the morning by shooting down 15-year-old upstart Cate Campbell in the women's 50 free Monaco final, 23.82 to 24.07. Trickett finished about a half-a-second shy of Marleen Veldhuis' world record (23.25).

Leisel Jones followed in the women's 50 breast with a victory over Tarnee White, 29.99 to 30.29. The winning time came up about a half-a-second short of the world record as well as Jessica Hardy's standard of 29.58.

The closest call of the day came in the women's 50 fly Monaco final as Galvez shot down Trickett, 25.35 to 26.23. Galvez came up a fingernail short of her world record time of 25.32 set at Worlds two weeks ago.

Emily Seebohm, 15, then won the head-to-head 50 back with Sophie Edington, 27.45 to 27.78.

In the men's Monaco finales, Matt Targett downed Grant Brits, 21.49 to 21.66, while Brenton Rickard dominated the 50 breast in 26.62 with Chris Sprenger touching second in 29.18. Rickard finished off the world-record page of 26.17 set by Oleg Lisogor.

Adam Pine had a much closer battle in the 50 fly as he surfaced triumphant over Andrew Lauterstein, 23.12 to 23.68. Meanwhile, Ashley Delaney beat Robert Hurley, 23.60 to 24.14, in the men's 50 back, missing Thomas Rupprath's global standard of 23.27.

In the standard format swims, Angie Bainbridge collected a rare victory over Trickett, although Trickett had already swum two Monaco finals. Bainbridge won the 100 free in 53.02, while Trickett touched in 53.21 with Galvez third in 53.38.

Nic Sprenger followed in the men's 200 free with a winning time of 1:45.12, with Brits taking second in 1:45.57, while Rickard claimed the men's 100 breast in 57.82, beating Chris Sprenger (58.19) again.

In what amounted to a longer-distance Monaco event, Stephanie Rice tapped the wall in 4:36.18 to beat Samantha Hamill (4:41.17) head-to-head in the women's 400 IM.

Pine then beat Lauterstein again, this time with a 52.08 to 52.72 triumph in the men's 100 fly.

Belinda Hocking upended Seebohm, 58.42 to 59.47, in the women's 100 back, while Jessicah Schipper beat Hamill, 2:08.48 to 2:08.97, in the women's 200 fly.

In the men's 200 IM, Leith Brodie walked away with the title in 1:57.18, while Bronte Barratt snatched the women's 400 free crown in 4:02.78.

In another pair of head-to-head swims, Jones beat Sally Foster, 2:18.56 to 2:20.55, for the women's 200 breast title, while Craig Stevens defeated Nic Sprenger, 14:56.98 to 15:06.35, in the men's 1500 free.

Delaney finished individual swimming with a time of 1:56.30 for the win in the men's 200 back.

In relay action, Seebohm, Jones, Galvez and Trickett clocked a time of 1:45.73 in the women's 200 medley relay. The time is the best ever, although FINA does not recognize the event as a world record. The previous best had been a 1:46.67 by Germany in December.

Special thanks to Federico Ferraro for contributing to this report.

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