MELBOURNE, Nov 26: Australian Matt Welsh signalled a return to form with a sizzling 50-metre backstroke final victory over Athen's Olympic gold-medallist Aaron Peirsol at the Melbourne leg of the World Cup short course swimming meet on Friday.
Welsh missed his own world short course record by 0.55sec in 23.86sec but had too much power for Americans Randall Bal and third-placed Peirsol. South African Ryk Neethling was one of the stars of the opening night of the three-day meet.
Neethling won the men's 100m freestyle in 46.94sec, beating Americans Jason Lezak (47.59) and Nick Brunelli (47.77). He backed up for another winner's cheque in the 100m individual medley where he beat Brunelli and Australian Joshua Taylor in a winning time of 53.01sec.
Australia's triple Olympic gold medallist Jodie Henry's long-awaited return to the pool proved disastrous with little-known Australian teenager Holly Thras ending her hopes of a successful comeback.
Henry, in her first competition since her record-breaking feats in Athens, was equal eighth in the women's 100m freestyle heats with Thras, to force a swim-off for last spot in the night's final.
RESULTS:
MEN
400M FREESTYLE: 1. Yuri Prilukov (RUS) 3:44.23, 2. Travis Nederpelt (AUS) 3:44.99, 3. Lin Zhang (CHN) 3:46.31.
200M BUTTERFLY: 1. Nikolay Skvortsov (RUS) 1:53.44, 2. James Hickman (GBR) 1:53.85, 3. George du Rand (RSA) 1:56.92
50M BREASTSTROKE: 1. Brenton Rickard (AUS) 27.36, 2. Mark Riley (AUS) 27.54, 3. Eduardo Fischer (BRA) 27.93.
100M FREESTYLE: 1. Ryk Neethling (RSA) 46.94, 2. Jason Lezak (USA) 47.59, 3. Nick Brunelli (USA) 47.77.
100M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Ryk Neethling (RSA) 53.01, 2. Nick Brunelli (USA) 54.82, 3. Joshua Taylor (AUS) 54.95
50M BACKSTROKE: 1. Matt Welsh (AUS) 23.86, 2. Randall Bal (USA) 24.04, 3. Aaron Peirsol (USA) 24.50
WOMEN
50M BUTTERFLY: 1. Lisbeth Lenton (AUS) 26.57, 2. Alice Mills (AUS) 26.62, 3. Danni Miatke (AUS) 26.69.
100M FREESTYLE: 1. Lisbeth Lenton (AUS) 53.58, 2. Alice Mills (AUS) 53.69, 3. Shayne Reese (AUS) 54.48.
100M BREASTSTROKE: 1. Leisel Jones (AUS) 1:04.90, 2. Sarah Katsoulis (AUS) 1:06.43, 3. Jade Edmistone (AUS) 1:06.65
400M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY: 1. Helen Norfolk (NZL) 4:39.52, 2. Jing Liu (CHN) 4:41.56, 3. Kristen Wilson (AUS) 4:41.94
200M BACKSTROKE: 1. Tayliah Zimmer (AUS) 2:06.54, 2. Hannah McLean (NZL) 2:08.87, 3. Yan Yan Chen (CHN) 2:09.05.
800M FREESTYLE: 1. Stephanie Williams (AUS) 8:19.06, 2. Sarah Paton (AUS) 8:28.76, 3. Linda MacKenzie (AUS) 8:28.89. -AFP