Stephanie Rice, 19, of Australia has brokes Katie Hoff's world record in the 400m medley at Australian trials in Sydney. Her 4:31.46 wipes 1.43sec off the American's best, set at Melbourne 2007. Rice's best was a 4:37.18, from the Japan Open last August. Her astounding new personal best lifts her from all-time No14 to the top slot.
Rice is only the second Australian ever to hold the world record. Gail Neall was the last, recording a 5:02.97 to win the 1972 Olympic title in Munich at the Games where teammate Shane Gould won five individual medals, three of them gold. A good omen for Beijing, perhaps.
The splits compared:
World record progression:
The new all-time top five reads:
The 4:36.10 of Petra Schneider (GDR), which stood as the world record for 16 years, has now fallen back to eighth best all-time.
Rice, coached by Michael Bohl at St Peters College pool in Brisbane, made the pack behind her look as though they came from a time when Schneider was dominating the world by similar margins. The second Olympic slot went to 17-year-old Samantha Hamill in 4:41.61, while the rest of the final were on average some 18 to 19secs off the world-record pace.
Rice's drop is the biggest of her career beyond the age of 16. In 2005, she showed huge potentials when she dropped from the 4:50s to a best time of 4:46.57. A year later, she reduced her time to 4:41.83, before cracking the 4:40 barrier last year.
'I think I swore and I thought oh I should not have said that, but I was so in shock,' Rice told AAP after her race. 'I saw my time and I saw 3:31 because 3:37 was my best time but I did not think I would go that fast.'
Bronze medallist at Melbourne 2007,she raced in the Speedo LZR Racer to what was the seventh world record set so far this year in the new suit. The debate about whether the garment has performance-enhancing properties will rage on.
'[Michael] Bohl said we don't want to be breaking world records here and I have done exactly the same thing as Eamon [Sullivan]. I have stirred it up and the pressure is on us now but I can take that, a world record has been my dream and I so glad that I got it.' Sullivan and Rice are sweethearts. Nicole Jeffery at The Australian was thinking the lateral thought and the only couple we could come up with over the years who held world records simultaneously were two people that set a high standard for the Aussie pair: Roland Matthes and Kornelia Ender. Married after the 1976 Olympic Games they had a daughter Francesca, the offspring of parents who between them boasted a treasury of eight gold, six silver and two bronze medals at the Olympic Games, 11 gold, three silver and 1 bronze medal at world long-course championships, and 49 world records, including relays.
Back in Sydney, the berths for the 400m medley for men went to Travis Nederpelt in 4:16.31, and Adam Lucas, on 4:19.07.
In semi-finals, Libby Lenton, racing under her married name of Trickett after her marriage to fellow swimmer Luke, qualified fastest in the 100m butterfly, on 58.55 to Jessica Schipper's 58.60.
There were speedy efforts too in the men's semi-finals of the 100m breaststroke, Christian Sprenger at the helm on 1:00.40 and Brenton Rickard on 1:00.83.