Stevens eyes Hackett role

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GRANT Hackett’s withdrawal from the 2006 Commonwealth Games has sparked Craig Stevens to reconsider a plan to focus on the 200m and 400m freestyle next March.

Stevens, who gave Ian Thorpe the chance to defend the Olympic 400m freestyle crown in Athens last year, is on the comeback trail from a back injury that ruled him out of the world titles in Montreal this year.

The 25-year-old admitted yesterday he was leaning towards the shorter distances in his preparation for the Games, but Hackett’s shoulder surgery has renewed his interest in the 1500m.

“I have probably been umming and aahing about it, preferring just to do the 200m and the 400m,” Stevens said.

“I haven’t really spoken to (coach Tracey Menzies) about it but it’s definitely something that we may have to have another talk about.

“I will probably enter it and wait to see how I swim that week (at the Commonwealth Games trials in January) in the 400m and the 200m.

“It’s not something that I’m holding off on, I just want to see if I’m up for it.”

Of Australia’s 1500m hopes behind Hackett, Stevens holds the fastest time of 15:01.64 for the 30-lap race, which he recorded at last year’s Olympic trials.

Canadian-turned-Australian Kurtis MacGillivary (15:08.48) and ironman champion Ky Hurst (15:17.65) are the others in line.

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Stevens qualified behind Hackett in the 1500m freestyle for last year’s Olympics, finishing eighth in the final.

“I guess I’m probably still capable of doing a pretty good 1500m, it just depends on whether I’m up to it and I can get the mind around it,” he said.

“I always wanted to get back into it to break 15 minutes.

“It’s every 1500m swimmer’s ultimate goal to break 15 minutes and I haven’t done that yet. I definitely want to do it, it’s just a matter of trying to get the mind around training to get back under 15 minutes.

“I think it’s more of a mental thing than a physical thing.”

Stevens said he had recovered from the injury that forced him to withdraw from the world championship trials in March.

He aggravated a lower back injury moving furniture earlier this year. But Stevens said he was now training as strong as ever.

“Everything has been fantastic,” he said.

“This is the best I’ve been training in a long time so I can’t wait to race at the trials.”

While training partner Thorpe returns from a 15-month break at this weekend’s FINA world cup meet in Sydney, Stevens is set to miss the meeting after being struck down with the flu this week.

But his inside word on Thorpe is that the Olympic champion looks in great shape.

“He’s looking pretty good, he’s doing some pretty fast times,” Stevens said.