RICE HEADS A TRIO IN FLY-MEDLEY DOUBLE

Sydney, March 22: It's going to be a busy night in the pool for Olympians Stephanie Rice, Samantha Hamill and rising star Jackie Staples after the trio qualified for the finals of both the women's 200m butterfly and women's 400m individual medley at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre this morning.

In what will be an exciting final night of finals at the Telstra Australian Swimming Championships, Rice (St Peters Western, QLD), Hamill (Kawana Waters, QLD) and Staples (Norwood, SA) will contest two of the toughest events on the program with just 45 minutes between the two events.

Other finals will feature Eamon Sullivan, Ashley Callus and Matthew Abood in the men's 50m freestyle, Brenton Rickard and Christian Sprenger in the 200m breaststroke and a host of young guns lining up in the men's and women's 1500m freestyle

Olympic 400IM gold medallist and world record holder Rice was the third fastest through to the women's 200m butterfly in 2.11.91 and later in the program looked smooth in winning her heat of the women's 400m IM, hitting the wall in 4.49.40 to go through as the fastest qualifier.

Hamill contested both events in the Olympics and is the fastest qualifier on 2:11.19, equal with 2007 world champion Jessicah Schipper for the butterfly and the second fastest to Rice in the medley, clocking 4:49.52.

Staples completes the trio of swimmers contesting both finals tonight and she was third quickest into the 400 IM final (4.50.18), which will also include Pro-Ma Miami duo Katie Goldman (4.50.27) and Ellen Fullerton (4.51.10).

Rice is yet to determine exactly what her World championship program will look like, and will wait until the end of the meet to assess the events she has qualified for, including relays.

"It's hard having two really tough races on the last day of competition," said Rice after her swims.

"It would have been nice if one was today and one was yesterday just so I could focus on both of them individually, but under the circumstances I'm pretty happy with those times.

"It's just something that you've got to train for. At the NSW State Championships I did three races in one day which I think is going to come as great experience for the finals tonight. I'm lucky that there's a 1500m between them to give us a bit of extra time."

The three-time Olympic gold medallist in Beijing will be trying to conserve energy ahead of the two finals.

"The annoying thing is at Worlds they aren't both on the same day. I would love to be able to qualify for both individually but it's going to be a hard back up, and I definitely don't want to forsake my 400 IM for the 200 fly."

In other action this morning:

MEN'S 200M BREASTSTROKE: Olympian Christian Sprenger (Commercial, QLD) is fastest through to tonight's final of the men's 200m breaststroke with a time of 2.14.84. Fellow Olympian and Australian record holder Brenton Rickard (Brothers, QLD) was third quickest in 2.15.86 and will be hoping to go closer to his best of 2.08.88 to secure the gold. Others to watch are AIS-based Craig Calder (Albury, NSW - 2.15.22), Traralgon duo Jeremy Meyer (2.17.28) and Jeremy Saunders (2.20.74), and Matthew White (Rocky City, QLD - 2.17.59).

WOMEN'S 200M BUTTERFLY: Jessicah Schipper (Commercial, QLD) qualified equal fastest for tonight's final of the women's 200m butterfly, touching the wall in 2.11.19 to win her heat. Schipper will be seeking to take the 100m - 200m butterfly double at these championships. Equalling Schipper's time was fellow Olympian Samantha Hamill (Kawana Waters, QLD) who won her heat comfortably in 2.11.19. Three-time Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice (St Peters Western) has also qualified for the final with a time of 2.11.91.Others to watch tonight include Norwood duo Jackie Staples (2.12.89) and Jessica Ash (2.13.72), Nicole Mee (Uniswim - 2.14.48), and 16-year-old Zoe Johnson (Sydney Swim PLC - 2.14.58).

MEN'S 50M BUTTERFLY MULTI-DISABILITY: Brendan Hall (Redcliffe Leagues, QLD - S9) will swim from lane four in tonight's final of the men's 50m butterfly Multi-disability, recording a time of 30.03 in this morning's heats. Nicholas Frederiksen (Kilcoy, QLD - S8 - 31.12), Craig Morgan (Kinross Wolaroi, NSW - S15 - 27.67), and Sean Russo (Revesby Workers, NSW - S13 - 29.38) will also be vying for the title.

WOMEN'S 50M BUTTERFLY MULTI-DISABILITY: Paralympian Ellie Cole (Kings, VIC - S9) is the fastest qualifier through to tonight's final of the women's 50m butterfly Multi-disability with a time of 32.88. Chasing gold alongside Cole will be Madeleine Scott (Southlake Dolphins, WA - S9 - 33.75), Tiegen van Roosmalen (Mingara Aquatic, NSW - S13 - 31.75), Maryborough's Sally Wheeler (S9 - 34/77) and last night's winner of the 400m freestyle Multi-disability Nerice Holland (Chandler, QLD - S14 - 33.24).

WOMEN'S 100M FREESTYLE MULTI-DISABILITY: Jacqueline Freney (Aqua Z, NSW - S8) will be in lane four for the final of the women's 100m freestyle Multi-disability, recording a 1.10.07 in this morning's heats. Alongside Freney will be Paralympian Prue Watt (Nunawading, VIC - S13 - 1.02.38), 400m freestyle champion Nerice Holland (Chandler, QLD - S14 - 1.06.61), and Woogaroo's Kayla Clarke (S14 - 1.07.08).

MEN'S 100M FREESTYLE MULTI-DISABILITY: Paralympic superstar Matthew Cowdrey (Norwood, SA - S9) will be seeking gold in the men's 100m freestyle Multi-disability final tonight, qualifying in 56.58. He'll be up against Ben Cochrane (Southern Cross, QLD - S8 - 1.02.11), who last night set a new world record in the 50m breaststroke for his classification, Matthew Levy (Warringah Aquatic, NSW - S8 - 1.02.56) and Brenden Hall (Redcliffe Leagues, QLD - S9 - 1.00.18).