Commonwealth Trials Creeping Closer for Aussies

MELBOURNE, Australia, January 25. LESS than a week remains before the Australian Commonwealth Games Trials begin in Melbourne. The event is scheduled for January 30-February 4 and will determine the squad that will represent Australia at the Commonwealth Games in March.

Probably the leading question surrounding the Commonwealth Games Trials pertains to Ian Thorpe and how the freestyle great will look in his first major competition since the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Following the Olympics, Thorpe opted to step away from the competitive world and bypassed last summer’s World Championships while recharging his battery. He’s expected to race the 100 and 200 freestyles in Melbourne.

In other events of interest, the women’s sprint freestyles should provided a number of sizzling times, thanks to the presence of Libby Lenton, Jodie Henry and Alice Mills. The Aussie women were phenomenal at the World Champs and will look to carry forward the momentum gained in Montreal. Another top-flight matchup figures to emerge in the breaststroke races, where Leisel Jones, Brooke Hanson and Jade Edmistone will battle for supremacy.

Back to the Aussie men, the World Champs – outside of Grant Hackett – were disappointing, and with Hackett recovering from shoulder surgery, the male contingent could use a spark. One of the leading contenders to emerge as a future hope is Eamon Sullivan, an Athens Olympian who appears ready for an international breakthrough in the 100 free.

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