By Stephen J Thomas<\/p>\n
SYDNEY, Australia, Apil 1. MOST mortal swimmers would have skipped the 50 fly \u2013 a non-Olympic event – today if they had already qualified for their third Olympic team in five events: 100-200 fly, 200 free and the three relays. Particularly when just twelve months ago to the day they had undergone their third shoulder reconstruction \u2013 and this is no April Fool\u2019s Day joke. <\/p>\n
There\u2019s no question Petria Thomas is made of sterner stuff than most of us. And I believe the unassuming 28-year-old who has been based at the Australian Institute of Sport for more than a decade has the potential to produce Australia\u2019s best single Olympic performance in swimming history. Shane Gould won five individual medals in 1972: 3 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze and no relay medals. Potentially, Thomas could win six medals in Athens. The colour – time will tell. <\/p>\n
Back to the 50 fly where Thomas clocked 26.41 tonight to take 0.25 of a second off her Commonwealth and Australian record and set up the probability of her seventh title in this event. Sixteen year-old Victorian Danni Miatke, was next best in 27.05 \u2013 second fastest Aussie performer, followed by Felicity Galvez in a PR 27.40 \u2013 sixth fastest performer. <\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 50 freestyle:
\nQueenslander Ashley Callus was best in 22.50 from Jono Newton 22.63, Aussie record-holder Brett Hawke 22.65 and Jeff English 22.68. Michael Klim also qualified in 5th place (23.01). <\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 100 Butterfly:
\nTitleholder Geoff Huegill was fastest qualifier for the final in 53.32 from the unrelenting Justin Norris who managed a PR 53.51 not long after winning the 200IM. Adam Pine (53.70) and Jason Cohen (53.77) followed. Former world record-holder Michael Klim qualified for his second final of the night, through in 6th place in a time of 54.31. <\/p>\n
Men\u2019s 50 Breaststroke:
\nMark Reily (28.23), Nathan Crook (28.43), Jim Piper (28.45) and Aussie record-holder Brenton Rickard (28.50) should fight out the final tomorrow night.<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s 200 Backstroke:
\nSouth Aussie Melissa Morgan was fastest qualifier with a very solid 2:14.01. Then followed Fran Adcock (2:14.70) and 16-year-old Barcelona rookie Zoe Tonks (2:15.11). Outside chance, 14-year-old Stephanie Williams also made it through in 2:15.72.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Stephen J Thomas SYDNEY, Australia, Apil 1. MOST mortal swimmers would have skipped the 50 fly \u2013 a non-Olympic event – today if they had already qualified for their<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71090,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n