Grant Hackett was once the world record holder over 200m freestyle and will doubtless be a force to reckon with when it comes to the 4x200m in Beijing. All the better for him then that at least one of those who will race alongside him in the relay is travelling a fingernail faster over four laps: at Victorian state titles, Hackett went down to Kendrick Monk, 1:48.01 to 1:48.09, ahead of Patrick Murphy (1:48.67) and Andrew Mewing (1:48.72). A better 4x200m free team is brewing for the Dolphins once more.

Australia's uphill struggle to get back on terms with the USA is not lost on Hackett, however. He told The Age: 'We're still a long way off - the US has got a big lead on us - but I think we've consolidated ourselves as the second strongest 4x200 freestyle relay team in the world. There's a fight for the four relay spots so that is only going to bring us closer to the US and they're probably going to go faster too anyway.'

Elsewhere, Belinda Hocking, 17, claimed the 200m backstroke in 2:11.89, and Travis Nederpelt, 22, took the 200m butterfly in 1:58.86.