Pieter Van den Hoogenband clocked 49.86 and 1:47.55 over 100 and 200m freestyle at home at the Eindhoven meet and is now aiming to race again in Belgium next month as he warms up to do battle with Italy’s Filippo Magnini and Britain’s Simon Burnett, among others, at the European Championships in Budapest in August.
At the same meet in Holland, Nina Jivanevskaya, the former Russian who races for Club Natación Torremolinos and Spain, clocked 29.34sec over 50 metres backstroke to book her place in Budapest. Her Spain teammate Olaf Wildeboer set a national record of 1:49.09 behind Van Den Hoogenband over 200m freestyle, while his brother Aschwin swam inside the qualification target for Budapest over 50m backstroke, in 25.94.
Grant Hackett, of Australia, will make his competitive comeback after shoulder surgery last November, at a grand prix meet in Brisbane in mid-May, while Ian Thorpe may extend his Mare Nostrum tour in Europe to racing in the US after talks between his coach Tracey Menzies and Alan Thompson, Australia head coach.
“We’re looking at taking a couple of the guys across (from Mare Nostrum to the US), and Ian’s on that list,” Thompson told reporter Jim Wilson. “I think it would be good for Ian to travel and get out of town and a month away overseas racing and being with his mates is probably a good thing. I think he is keen to get some racing under his belt.”
Meanwhile, world record holder over 50 metres breaststroke, Jade Edmistone is reported to be on the verge of leaving coach John Fowlie and her AIS in Canberra to return home to Brisbane and former coach Brant Best. At the weekend, she married fellow swimmer Andrew Richards.
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