BRONZED AUSSIE TRIPLE TREAT
ROME, July: Australia claimed three bronze medals at the FINA world championships on Friday with Libby Trickett, Christian Sprenger and the men's 4x200m freestyle relay team all finishing third. TODD BALYM reports...
Former world record holder Libby Trickett was forced to settle for the bronze medal in the 100m freestyle after she was gunned down by Germany's Britta Steffen and Great Britain's Fran Halsall in the final 50m.
Trickett led at the turn but couldn't hold her pace in her Speedo LZR suit over the final 10m as Steffen (adidas Hydrofoil) and Halsall (Jaked01) stormed home.
Steffen obliterated the world record to touch in 52.07s, with Halsall touching in 52.87s and Trickett third in 52.93s.
"I was hoping to go a bit faster but the fact I wasn't able to do that is a bit disappointing," said Trickett.
"But at the same time you can't really complain too much about being third in the world."
Trickett refused to blame her inferior suit for the defeat, but didn't know whether the result would have been different if she'd worn one of the full polyurethane garments.
She said Steffen's one second improvement since the Beijing Olympics showed that it was impossible to judge if the results were distorted or not.
"It was a amazing (Steffen's time) ... all I can go off is what she did last year at the Olympics and to drop a second from that time is huge," said Trickett.
"52.0 is something I dream about doing one day. She did a fantastic job."
Sprenger started favourite for his 200m breaststroke final after setting the world record in his semi-final, but had to settle for a dead heat in third as Hungary's Daniel Gyurta and USA's Eric Shanteau beat him in the bunch finish.
Gyurta won in 2:07.64, followed by Shanteau (2:07.65) and Sprenger tied with Lithuania's Giedrius Titenis (2:07.80).
Australia's 100m world champion Brenton Rickard (2:08.23) led at the final turn, but had to settle for fifth.
"Going in as world record holder it was tough to keep my cool but I was really happy with my result," said Sprenger.
"I got to go on the podium and that's something I've never dreamed of."
The men's relay team capped off a solid night with Kenrick Monk, Robert Hurley, Tommaso D'Orsogna and Patrick Murphy beating home heroes Italy in a tight race for the bronze.
USA won in a new world record of 6:58.55, followed by Russia (6:59.15) with Australia (7:01.65) third.
It matches Australia's result from the Beijing Olympics last year, although the Australians had three new faces in the team.
"It is looking pretty promising towards London (2012 Olympics)," said Murphy, the remaining Beijing bronze medallist in the final team.
Australia's Olympic bronze medallist Andrew Lauterstein survived a major scare to qualify seventh fastest for the 100m butterfly final in 51.03s.
Marieke Guehrer (25.58s) was fourth fastest into the final of the 50m butterfly after the world record was twice broken in the semi-finals.
Australia's Matthew Abood missed the final of the 50m freestyle by less than a tenth of a second after placing 14th in a time of 21.74s.
Belinda Hocking (2:09.77) and Sophie Edington (2:10.57) both missed the final in the 200m backstroke, Hocking by just two tenths of a second, placing ninth and 13th respectively.