Thorpe recaptures 200m world record

Ian Thorpe set his second world record in 24 hours when he recaptured the 200 metres freestyle mark at the Australian swimming championships on Tuesday.

Thorpe set his 13th world record of the last 2-1/2 years when he stopped the clock at one minute 44.69 seconds to slice two-thirds of a second off the previous world record of 1:45.35 set by Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband at the 2000 Sydney Olympics last September.

Thorpe, 18, broke the 800 metres freestyle world record on Monday less than 20 minutes after contesting the 200m semifinals.

"I just wanted to do a personal best so of course I'm thrilled to break the world record," Thorpe said.

"I just took it easy after last night and tried to rest as much as possible and convince myself I could swim well tonight.

"People are saying I'm a distance swimmer after last night but I like to think I can sprint as well."

Thorpe won three gold medals at last year's Olympics but had to settle for silver in the 200 metres after Van den Hoogenband broke the Australian's world record in the semifinals then equalled the new mark in the final to win the gold.

But Thorpe has emerged from his post-Olympic break fitter and more motivated than ever.

He missed his 400 freestyle world record by just 0.17 seconds on Saturday then slashed 4.41 seconds off Kieren Perkins's seven-year-old world record in his first attempt at 800 metres on Monday.

Thorpe had qualified only second-fastest for the 200 final after saving his energy during Monday's semifinals before the 800 final.

But he started the final in lane four after the fastest qualifier Michael Klim, the reigning 200 metres freestyle world champion, pulled out to concentrate on the 100 metres butterfly semifinals.

Klim later qualified fastest for the 100 butterfly final with a time of 52.43 seconds, 0.62 seconds outside his world record.

With no serious rivals, Thorpe was quickly out on his own in the 200 freestyle racing against the clock.

He went through the first half of the race more than three quarters of a second outside Van den Hoogenband's pace before powering home over the final two laps with his giant flipper-sized feet.

The Australian championships are doubling as the country's trials for the July 16-29 world championships in Fukuoka, Japan.

Thorpe has already qualified for the 200, 400 and 800 freestyle and is hoping to qualify for the 100 freestyle as well.

Sarah Ryan, meanwhile, took out the women's 100 freestyle final on Tuesday to book her place in the team for Fukuoka.

Ryan won the final in a time of 55.66 seconds, with Petria Thomas second in 56.13 and Lori Munz third in 56.19.