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Aug '05

Swim prince conquers all to become king

Swim prince conquers all to become king

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HE is the greatest medal winner in world championship history and the first swimmer to win the same event four times at the world titles.

But distance supremo Grant Hackett is confident his best is still ahead of him after he continued his nine-year dominance in the 1500m freestyle at the world championships yesterday.

Unbeaten in the event since 1996, Hackett added a record fourth 1500m title to his name to become the first swimmer to win the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle at a world championships.

The 25-year-old produced the fourth fastest time in history for his pet event to win in 14min 42.58sec, eight seconds outside the world record he set in Fukuoka, Japan, in 2001.

The win completed a stellar world championships for the dual Olympic 1500m gold medallist, who was named the male swimmer of the meeting for his performances.

Hackett leaves Montreal with gold in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle, silver in the 200m freestyle, bronze in the 4×200m freestyle relay and a world record in the 800m.

The Gold Coast swimmer’s haul took his overall world championship medal tally to a record 17, three more than the previous benchmark held by Ian Thorpe, American Jenny Thompson and German Michael Gross.

Hackett said he was humbled to achieve what he had in Montreal, but believed there were still better performances ahead of him.

“I guess it’s one of my best,” Hackett said.

“It’s an awesome feeling to be able to achieve something like that (four 1500m titles) and be the first person in history to do it.”

While long-time rival Thorpe took a sabbatical from international competition this year, Hackett has enjoyed the spotlight and the accolades in Montreal.

The Australian team captain was thrilled with the recognition he had received.

“Getting swimmer of the meet and all that sort of stuff . . . it’s just an honour to have something like that,” Hackett said.

No Responses to “Swim prince conquers all to become king”

  1. alina Says:

    Excellent title to this article. Honestly, it’s just perfectly said. Grant is way up there at the moment, deserving to be crowned like he should have all these years.
    I love Ian Thorpe dearly, but I have to say I did not miss him much during the World Champs. I just hope he comes back soon an then I will be able to see both my aussie sweethearts at the same time. :) )

  2. wing yin Says:

    i knew that the world champs were still gonna be good without ian thorpe because of grant.. and i guess i was right.. go grant ur the best..

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