Hackett bested in 1,500m qualifying

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Britain’s David Davies upstaged Australia’s long distance king Grant Hackett to set the fastest qualifying time ahead of Monday morning’s (AEST) men’s 1,500 metres final at the World Swimming Championships in Montreal.

Davies was the only swimmer to dip under the 15-minute barrier when he won his morning heat in 14 minutes 59.33 seconds.

Hackett, who is chasing his fourth successive world title in the longest event on the swimming program, was second fastest in 15:00.18, more than 25 seconds outside the world record he set at the 2001 world championships in Japan.

“I felt really good out there,” Welshman Davies said. “I didn’t want to take too much out of myself because I wanted to save something for tomorrow’s final.”

Russia’s Yuri Prilukov, second to Hackett in last Sunday’s 400m freestyle final, was third in 15:01.03 while American Larsen Jensen was fifth in 15:07.58 after finishing runner-up to Hackett in the 800m earlier this week.

“It was not as fast as I wanted to go but I’m still happy with the swim,” Hackett said.

“It is the best time I’ve done this season and it is the easiest I’ve felt so that combination is awesome.”

Australians topped the qualifying in the heats of all three women’s events on the penultimate day of the championships.

Alice Mills thrashed her way down the Montreal pool to post the fastest time in the 50m freestyle sprint at 25.15, just 0.04 ahead of Sweden’s Therese Alshammar. China’s Zhu Yingwen was third in 25.22 as the top 11 qualifiers were separated by just half a second.

Jade Edmistone led an Australian one-two in the 50m breast stroke. She finished top in a time of 30.79 while her team mate Brooke Hanson was second in 30.99.

American teenager Jessica Hardy was third in 31.13 after breaking the 100m breast stroke world record earlier in the week while the 50m world record holder Zoe Baker was fourth in 31.30.

Hanson was back in the pool two hours later to help Australia set the best qualifying time of 4:03.62 for the medley relay although Leisel Jones will swim the final.

The US were second in 4:04.43 with Germany third in 4:05.50.

World record holder Thomas Rupprath was the fastest qualifier in the men’s 50m backstroke heats, stopping the clock at 25.44, just 0.02 ahead of Britain’s Liam Tancock.

American Aaron Peirsol was seventh overall in 25.77 after winning the 100m earlier in the week then breaking his 200m world record yesterday.