Hackett answers provocation

original link

GRANT Hackett is playing a game of one-upmanship with Michael Phelps by entering the 200 metres freestyle at the world championships in Montreal next month.

Hackett’s coach Denis Cotterell revealed his charge had made the decision in response to Phelps’ move into Hackett’s “territory”, the 400m freestyle, this year.

The captain of the Australian team announced two weeks ago that he would add the 200m freestyle to his arduous schedule of 400m, 800m, 1500m and 4×200m freestyle relay.

Cotterell said Hackett was fuelled by a desire to show Phelps he was not intimidated by him.

“It’s the competitor in him - it’s the provocation that Michael presented by taking on the 400m this year,” Cotterell said. “Grant’s saying, ‘I don’t want to look like I am scared to meet him in his territory’, and there’s also the motivation of racing the guy who’s accepted as the best swimmer on the planet.”

Phelps underlined his ability over 200m at the Santa Clara international meet at the weekend, where he won in 1min47.58sec, a time only he and Hackett have beaten this year and one which suggests he is primed for the world titles.

But Cotterell said the Hackett camp had been irritated by comments from Phelps that suggested the American believed he would win the 400m freestyle in Canada, even though he had never contested the event internationally.

The Phelps-Hackett rivalry has made the 200m and 400m freestyle the centrepiece of the world championships, bringing together two dominant champions to compete for territory neither owns.

Hackett is a former world record-holder in the 200m but Olympic bronze medallist Phelps holds the upper hand after their past three meetings over the distance. He beat Hackett when they met head-to-head in the previous two important 4×200m freestyle relay finals and in the Olympic 200m final.

However, Hackett has the faster time this year, leading the world rankings with a time of 1:46.20, 0.24sec faster than Phelps’ best.

Hackett has by far the better 400m freestyle record as the perennial runner-up to world record-holder Ian Thorpe. His best time of 3:42.51 is four seconds faster than Phelps’s best of 3:46.73, but they have never raced over the distance.

Cotterell said Hackett has had an excellent preparation for Montreal, in contrast to the lead-up to last year’s Olympics when he was plagued by pneumonia for much of the year. The dual Olympic 1500m champion withdrew from the Canberra grand prix two weeks ago because of a minor throat infection but Cotterell said that had not impeded his progress.

Fellow leading lights Alice Mills and Libby Lenton also have recovered from ailments that affected them in Canberra. Mills, ranked No.1 in the world in the 50m and 100m freestyle, missed two weeks of training with a viral infection and her coach Shannon Rollason is not prepared to predict what effect this will have on her form in Montreal.