She has some way to go but ambition and confidence in your ability are potent weapons and Australia's Tayliah Zimmer has a target in mind: American Natalie Coughlin's world record over 100m backstroke - and before Beijing 2008.

The aim is not entirely self-serving: Zimmer told reporters Down Under that her aim is to provide Australia with a mega-medley team capable of swamping the other seven lanes in Beijing.

Zimmer, 21, has some work to do: fitter, faster and leaner, she defeated Coughlin in Canberra recently when she clocked a personal best of 1:00.99, swift but a far cry from the American's show-stopping 59.58.

"I really want to get up there and try to get a world record," Zimmer told AAP at her altitude training base in snowy Thredbo. "I'm only 1.3 seconds away so going by my PBs I have improved a second each year so I should be on track next year and then more importantly Beijing."

Zimmer, who says she watched Coughlin "like an eagle" in Canberra and has started to adopt some of the American's training programmes. "I want to emulate what (Coughlin) does. If you always do what you've always done you'll always get what you've always got. I can't keep doing the same old thing cause I want to get better and better. I just watched her like an eagle all the time. She is the fastest backstroker of all time so who better to learn from than the best."

As such, don't be surprised to see Zimmer at a bike spinning session after seeing that the exercise forms part of Coughlin's routine.

If Zimmer, who has tough domestic opposition from Sophie Edington, gets close to Coughlin, Australia's medley relay, already a gold-medal hope in Beijing, could be unstoppable: Zimmer or Edington on backstroke, Jones on breaststroke, Lenton or Schipper on butterfly and Lenton or Henry on freestyle. There are others who could make the grade too.

"The relay is important because we hold the world record and I don't want to be letting the team down," said Zimmer, coached by Greg Salter at the Kingscliff club in Queensland. "If you look at the 4x100 medley team ... it's the backstroker that's lagging."

Australia's trials for the 2007 world championships in Melbourne will be held in Brisbane in next month December.