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Well done, mate Hackett breaks world record in 200-meter freestyle
Posted: Tuesday March 23, 1999 06:22 PM
BRISBANE, Australia (AP) -- Australia's Grant Hackett broke the oldest men's world swimming record Tuesday when he bettered the 200-meter freestyle mark set by Italian Giorgio Lamberti in 1989. Hackett clocked 1 minute, 46.67 as the first leg of a 4x200-meter relay team at Australia's national championships. Lamberti set his record at 1:46.69 in 1989. Hackett's was a shocking performance and he revealed he only decided to swim the first leg of the relay five minutes before it started. A swimmer must lead off a relay to be eligible to break world records. The record was thought to be under threat at the championships, which are the Australian team trials for August's Pan Pacific meet in Sydney. But 16-year-old Ian Thorpe was expected to topple the mark after getting within .01 seconds of it at the September Commonwealth Games. Hackett, 18, is the world 1500-meter champion but was not quick enough to make the 4x200-meter team at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur. "My plan was just to go out as hard as I could, as long as I could," Hackett said. "During the race, I said: 'I can do this. Let's just go. I know I can do it.'" Hackett still has his 1500-meter event on Saturday. "I'm not a sprinter. The 1500 is the one I want to win," Hackett said. "If I had to choose which one I would break a world record in, I would choose that one by a long way. "I've said I've done at lot on my 200, but at the same time, my main focus has always been on the 1500, for me that's my blue ribbon event, that's my forte, so I'm looking forward to see what I can really do." Hackett's stunning effort swamped a Commonwealth record swim by fellow Queenslander Susie O'Neill earlier in the night. O'Neill smashed the 17-year-old 200-meter freestyle mark to claim her 32nd Astralian Open title, clocking 1:59.11 to take 0.63 seconds off the time England's June Croft set in the same pool at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. The 25-year-old seems to break records almost every time she gets in the pool. Last month, she eclipsed American Mary T. Meagher's 18-year-old world shortcourse record in the 200 butterfly. Six months ago, she became the most celebrated Commonwealth Games athlete in history taking her 10th old medal in three campaigns. The win not only broke Croft's Commonwealth mark but took O'Neill closer to reaching Frank Beaurepaire's record of national championships. She needs a victory in Wednesday's 200 butterfly -- her last event at the nationals -- to tie Beaurepaire's mark of 33. "In the past, when I've swum I've tended to look around and lose speed," O'Neill said. "I made a conscious decision before the race not to look around. A key to the win tonight was to mind my own business. I swam my own race."
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