Australian Trials: Flash! Libby Trickett Becomes Fastest Woman on Planet With 50 Free World Record

SYDNEY, Australia, March 29. THE final day of swimming at the Australian Trials produced its eighth world record as Libby Trickett (formerly Lenton) became the fastest woman on the planet with a 50 free world record.

Trickett blistered the course to become the first sub-24 woman every with an astonishing 23.97. That performance downed the short-lived world record of Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands, who clocked a 24.09 at the European Championships on March 24.

Trickett becomes the first Australian to ever hold the record. Notably, teenage prodigy Cate Campbell finished second in the race with a 24.38.

"To be honest I really thought the 50 world record was going to be out of my reach for a lot longer," Trickett told Swimming Australia. "It's always been sort of a target and 24.1 has always just seemed such a distant time that I never really thought I would get there, but having Marleen Veldhuis break the world record the other day made it more real. And especially after going 52.88 I sort of thought ‘well 24.5 with a 100m time of a 52.88 seems a bit soft',

"I was just so happy that I was able to put it together tonight," Trickett continued. "The crowd's amazing here and I just wanted to celebrate the meet I've had. So many barriers have been broken at this meet, seeing Eamon Sullivan swim such a fast time last night, it's just inspiring and you can learn so much from other athletes and that's really what I try and do."

World Record Progressions
Courtesy of USA Swimming
25.96 Jill Sterkel USA Austin 4/10/1980
25.79 Jill Sterkel USA Austin 4/3/1981
25.69 Dara Torres USA Netherlands 1/1/1983
25.64 Annemarie Verstappen NED Netherlands 7/8/1983
25.62 Dara Torres USA Clovis 7/31/1983
25.61 Dara Torres USA Mission Viejo 7/21/1984
25.34 Tamara Costache ROU Bucharest 7/16/1986
25.31 Tamara Costache ROU Sofia 8/1/1986
25.28* Tamara Costache ROU Madrid 8/23/1986
24.98 Wenji Yang CHN Canton 4/11/1988
24.79 Wenji Yang CHN Barcelona 7/31/1992
24.51 Jingyi Le CHN Rome 9/11/1994
24.51 Inge de Bruijn NED Sheffield 5/27/2000
24.48 Inge de Bruijn NED Amsterdam 6/4/2000
24.39 Inge de Bruijn NED Rio de Janeiro 6/10/2000
24.13sf Inge de Bruijn NED Sydney 9/22/2000
24.09 Marleen Veldhuis NED Eindhoven 3/24/2008
23.97 Libby Trickett AUS Sydney 3/29/2008

Men's 50 back finals
Ashley Delaney won the event with a time of 25.18, while Hayden Stoeckel placed second in 25.47. Matt Welsh, who announced his retirement during the meet, wound up with bronze with a time of 25.52.

Women's 50 breast finals
Tarnee White added an explanation point to a strong weekend when she walked away with the sprint breast title in 30.66 for her second national title. Jade Edmistone, the world-record holder with a 30.31 to her credit, placed second in 31.13, while Kristy Morrison touched third in 31.69.

Men's 1500 free finals
Grant Hackett, the world-record holder with a 14:34.56, put together a strong swim in the metric mile with a time of 14:48.65. The time is his best since 2005 at the World Championships, and truly lets the world know that Hackett is back and ready to rumble in Beijing. Hackett is aiming to become the first man to win gold in the same event three straight Olympics.

"I just wanted to go out there and get on the pace," Hackett told Swimming Australia. "48's a good solid time so I'm pleased. That's the first step out of the way; I'm really looking forward to putting my head down and doing some hard training. I don't want to just win for myself – I'd like to win for Australia."

Craig Stevens finished second with a 14:53.18 to knocked six seconds from his personal-best time.

Men's 400 medley relay finals
The team of Bobby Jovanovich, Jim Piper, Garth Kates and Eamon Sullivan won the event with a winning time of 3:38.60.

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