April 27, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 20, 1429

BRISBANE (Australia), April 26: Australia’s Leisel Jones and Libby Trickett set new shortcourse world records at a grant prix meet in Canberra on Saturday.

Jones clocked one minute, 3.72 seconds in the 100 metres breaststroke to shave 0.14 off her own existing mark set at the Australian championships in Hobart in 2006.

Moments later, Trickett clocked 55.74 in the 100 metres butterfly to cut 0.15 off the mark set earlier this month by compatriot Felicity Galvez at the World Shortcourse Championships in Manchester.

The nation’s Olympic swimming team is competing at the meet following a week-long training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport.

Organisers scheduled finals for the morning to give competitors a chance to experience similar conditions to those expected at the Beijing Olympics.

Jones said she had enjoyed the opportunity to try out the morning finals format.

“Morning finals can be difficult if you think of them that way but we have made ourselves aware that it is the morning finals and practised it to be that way,” Jones told reporters.

“I think once you get to Beijing you are not going to need to know what time it is and I am making a comparison with it being just like a casino.

“You walk in and you don’t know what time it is and when you walk out, you still don’t know what time it is and it doesn’t matter. I’m just going to prepare to race the best way I can regardless of the time,” Jones added.

Trickett also said the timing of the finals would not be a problem at the Olympics in August.

“We’re starting to hone in on our strategies for Beijing and morning finals is a part of that,” Trickett said.

“We are getting a bit of practice at it before the Olympics come around and we started with a plan, which we revised and adjusted and hopefully by the time the Olympics come around we’ll be spot on.

“It’s not a matter of mornings and nights, its heats and finals.

“If my mind is set for a heat it’s going to be a heat swim performance, if my mind’s set for a final you are going to get a finals performance,” Trickett stated.

—Reuters