World Short Course Championships: Australia’s Kylie Palmer Wins 400 Free Crown With Meet Record

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MANCHESTER, England, April 11. AUSTRALIA's Kylie Palmer walked away with the women's 400 free world title after clocking a meet record at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Manchester.

Palmer touched in 3:59.23 to clear the 4:00.03 set by Costa Rica's Claudia Poll way back in 1997. The performance was a world record at the time. The win is the first for the Australians in the event.

"I guess a lot of the support from the Australian team, it's really good just having everyone behind you," Palmer told meet organizers. "We had a team meeting this afternoon which always gives me a bit of confidence, I like having a bit of a pep talk beforehand and I guess just knowing that my form is going well and to just have fun with it and see what happens. Before my race [Grant Hackett[ actually came up to me and said, ‘good swim last night good luck for the 400m', so yeah, having him there was really exciting, to see him here even thought he's not in this team, so it was good."

Romania's Camelia Potec took silver with a time of 4:01.06 to cut nearly a second from her national record of 4:02.00 set in 2004, while Great Britain's Joanne Jackson finished third in 4:01.11 to pip her national record of 4:01.12 set in 2005.

Notably, South Africa's Melissa Corfe lowered her national record of 4:05.09 from prelims with a sixth-place 4:03.50.

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