Sports Round-up: Davies beats Hackett to set up Olympic rematch

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BRITAIN’S David Davies upstaged Australia’s long-distance king Grant Hackett to set the fastest qualifying time in the men’s 1500m at the world swimming championship in Montreal.

Davies was the only swimmer under 15 minutes when he won his morning heat in 14min 59.33sec to set up a re-run of the 2004 Olympic final against Hackett and American Larsen Jensen.

‘I felt really good out there,’ said the Welshman, who finished in bronze position behind the two in Athens. ‘I didn’t want to take too much out of myself.’

Hackett, who is chasing his fourth successive world title at 1500m, was second fastest in 15:00.18.

Fellow Britain Liam Tancock was the second-fastest qualifier in the men’s 50m backstroke, finishing just 0.02sec behind world record-holder Thomas Rupprath, of Germany. Meanwhile, Aaron Peirsol and Leisel Jones set world records to win their second gold medals at the championship, while Michael Phelps collected his fourth courtesy of another American relay victory.

American Peirsol lowered his own 200m backstroke record, touching in 1min 54.66sec to better the mark of 1min 54.74sec he set at last year’s US Olympic trials. Setting the sixth world record of the championships, Australian Jones won the women’s 200m breaststroke in 2min 21.72sec.