March 30, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1429

SYDNEY, March 29: Libby Trickett confirmed her status as the fastest woman on water when she broke the 50 metres freestyle world record on the final night of the Australian Olympic trials on Saturday.

Trickett stormed down one-lap of Sydney’s International Aquatic Centre in 23.97 seconds to slice 0.12 off the previous record of 24.09 set five days ago by Marlene Veldhuis of the Netherlands at the European championships in Eindhoven.

Trickett, who won five gold medals at last year’s world championships, also broke the 100 freestyle world record on Thursday and won the 100 butterfly earlier in the week to qualify for six events in Beijing.

Cate Campbell, 15, finished second in 24.38 to book her second individual swim in China after finishing runner-up to Trickett in the 100 and boost Australia’s chances of winning the three women’s relays.

Grant Hackett also won the 1500 freestyle final on Saturday to remain on course to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three Olympics.

The 27-year-old led from start to finish claiming his 11th national 1500 title in 14 minutes 48.65 seconds, more than 14 seconds outside the world record he set seven years ago, but his fastest time in nearly in three years since he underwent shoulder surgery.

Craig Stevens, who famously gave up his spot to Ian Thorpe in the 400 at Athens in 2004, finished second in 14:53.18 after also finishing runner-up to Hackett in that event earlier in the meet.

Trickett’s world record was the seventh in as many days at the Australian trials, two more than the total at last week’s European championships.

Eamon Sullivan twice broke the men’s 50, his girlfriend Stephanie Rice broke the 200 and 400 individual medley records and Sophie Edington and Emily Seebohm took turns in breaking the 50 backstroke record, which is a non-Olympic event.—Reuters