SPEEDO AND "SKIPPY" NOW JOINED AT THE HIP FOR A SECOND COMING

March 30: There were times when Geoff "Skippy" Huegill would certainly have opted for boardies over budgies in his much publicised battle of the bulge.

When he blew out to 130kilos the two-time Olympian, world champion and world record holder probably wasn't what you'd call a good advertisement for Speedos.

But his times and waistlines have certainly changed.

Today he has signed a new deal with the world's leading swimwear brand, Speedo - seven years after the pair parted ways.

Speedo announced the signing of the sport's biggest name, just days before the start of the 2011 Shanghai World Championship Trials in Sydney.

Huegill, whose amazing comeback reached an extraordinary pinnacle when he won Commonwealth Games gold in Delhi last year, joins established Speedo ambassadors Eamon Sullivan, Libby Trickett, Leisel Jones, Andrew Lauterstein and Bronte Barratt.

The iconic Australian brand, that has outfitted Olympic swim teams since Melbourne in 1956, has also reinforced its association with the future with the signing of 15-year-old Commonwealth Games gold medallist Yolane Kukla and exciting young freestyle talent Te Haumi Maxwell.

They will join 18-year-old Sydney all-rounder and Youth Olympic star Kenneth To and brilliant Queensland freestyle-IMer Ellen Fullerton as part of the team.

Huegill started his career in Speedos at the 1997 World Short Course Championships in Sweden and both the swimwear icon and Huegill have gone full circle over the last 14 years.

Speedo swim bosses will be pleased that they are now "joined at the hip" with the sport's most promotable brand.

• The loveable two-time Olympian has announced he will contest next year's Olympic Trials for London, which will be held between March 15 and 22, 2012 for the opportunity to compete at his third Games.
• The 2012 Olympic Trials venue will either be the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre or the newly constructed $100 million state-of-the-art State Aquatic Centre in Adelaide who will push for the Trials to be hosted in South Australia. - IAN HANSON.