Kate Ziegler has made a solid start to Olympic year, clocking a 4:06.17 victory over 400m at the Victorian state titles in Australia while on tour as mentor to the USA junior team.

The time is all the more impressive when set against Ziegler's workload: coached by Ray Benecki, the American raced amid daily sessions of 10 to 11,000m, she told local reporters.

Olympic 100m champion Jodie Henry returned to the fray after reported illness, clocking 25.76 in the heats of the 50m freestyle, and 25.67 in the semis, behind Natalie Coughlin (25.45), Alice Mills (25.48) and Sally Foster (25.65).