Fatigue costs redoubtable Schipper world record

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NEW butterfly queen Jessicah Schipper was narrowly denied a world 200 metres butterfly record for the second time in as many weeks at the national short-course championships in Melbourne last night.

The victim of a judging mistake that cost her the world 200m title and world long-course record in Montreal last week, 18-year-old Schipper bounced back to challenge the world short-course mark just two days after returning from North America.

The world 100m butterfly champion was under world record pace for 150m, but this time her own fatigue rather than Polish Olympic champion Otylia Jerzejczak kept her from the world mark.

She clocked 2min4.68sec, just 0.64sec outside China’s Yang Yu’s world record but three seconds faster than she had swum before.

Afterwards she admitted she was beginning to hurt after swimming brilliantly at three high-class meets in three different countries and time zones in the past two weeks.

But she was satisfied to become the third fastest swimmer in this event, behind Yang and Australian record-holder Susie O’Neill (2:04.16).

It is one of the few O’Neill records to have survived the onslaught of Schipper and Libby Lenton in this period.

“It’s a massive personal best - my swim this morning in the heats (2:07.88) was already a PB - so to take another three seconds off and to be so close to the world record was a great achievement,” Schipper said.

“It gives me something to aim for next time.”

Even the endurance king, Grant Hackett, was starting to feel the pinch of the “ridiculous” schedule Australia’s elite swimmers have undertaken.

He pleaded for a chair from which to conduct his post-race interviews after winning the 200m freestlyle handsomely.

“My legs need a seat,” Hackett said.

“Yesterday I slept all day. I didn’t really get out of bed until the heats this morning.”

Hackett, 25, has had the biggest workload of any swimmer in the world in the past two weeks but still managed to get one up on American Michael Phelps.

He won the national 200m freestyle title in 1:42.81, beating Phelps’ winning time (1:43.59) from the world championships last October. Phelps defeated Hackett for the long-course world title in Montreal last week.

Hackett drew on the boundless reserves of his endurance when he fell just short of matching his Australian all-comers record (1:42.48). He is one of only four men who have swum faster.

“To come here and swim that time - that was nearly a PB - it was very encouraging,” Hackett said.

As an indication of his class, Hackett defeated his national team-mate Andrew Mewing (1:45.99) by more than three seconds. Promising Queensland 18-year-old Nick Ffrost, who has just joined the Australian Institute of Sport, finished third in 1:46.69 with Sydney’s Louis Paul fourth in 1:47.06.

The top four finishers qualified for the 4×200m freestyle relay at the world championships in Shanghai next April.

Hackett has yet to determine if he has enough energy left to swim the 1500m freestyle on Thursday.

On the theme of near-misses, world championships bronze medallist Lara Carroll finished just outside Hayley Lewis’ long-standing national 400m individual medley record. Carroll won in a personal best time of 4:35.44 - 0.5sec slower than Lewis’ standard.

World champion Jade Edmistone could achieve a unique double tonight in the 50m breaststroke final, where she will attack her own world short-course record.

Edmistone broke the long-course record one week ago to win her first world title in Montreal, and pressed the short-course record (29.90sec) in her semi-final last night (30.16sec).