Jade Edmistone of Australia after the 50m breastroke final during the Games Swimming Trials.
Just two hours into the Commonwealth Games Swimming trials in Melbourne, the brand new pool saw its first world-record performance.
By the time she climbed out of the Melbourne Sports and Aquatics Centre pool at noon, 23-year-old Queenslander Jade Edmistone had smashed her own 50m Breaststroke record in her first race in the purpose built outdoor undercover pool.
It marked just the latest breakthrough in a swimming career Edmistone has thought was all but over when she retired from the sport in 2000.
She returned to the pool in 2002, and in just over two years, she’d broken the world short-course record for the 50m Breaststroke, before last year doing the same to the long-course record at a swim in Montreal.
That record, of 30.45 seconds, fell yesterday when Edmistone powered across the pool in just 22 strokes to finish in a time of 30.31 seconds.
"I was a bit nervous about that race because my back has been playing up a bit and I could feel it tightening up during the race," she said. "It felt a bit all over the place, I made a few mistakes and I didn't feel very balanced. I felt a bit wobbly through the middle of the race."
Edmistone’s record stood up to her own assault in the semi final when she swam the second fastest time in history to qualify. The magic 30-second barrier will again be under threat as she takes on world short-course champion Brooke Hanson and world 100m and 200m champion Leisel Jones in the final.
"I think it will take a few cracks to go under 30 seconds," Emistone’s coach John Fowlie said. "I don't expect it tonight but we are going to have a crack at it."
Meanwhile, Edmistone’s training partner Jodie Henry said she wasn’t worried about missing a place in the final of the 200m Freestyle, which she was treating as a warm-up for her favoured 100m event.
"I am really not fit enough for the 200m. I felt good in the first 100m, I was out by a body length, but I just died," she said. "I've had a few hiccups along the way, but it's just all about making the team here. It's not about times or winning."
Libby Lenton’s second place finish to AIS swimmer Linda MacKenzie in the same event was followed by an admission she’d placed too much pressure on herself to produce something special after almost breaking the 200m Freestyle world record last year.
100m Freestyle world record-holder Alice Mills has also placed her focus on that event, pulling out of the 200m Individual Medley, an event which was won by an emotional Brooke Hanson.
“I have been dreaming of that moment for so long, making my third Commonwealth Games team and it is what spurred me on to know that my Games are in Melbourne,” Hanson said.
“I’m just a little bit upset after everything that has happened to me over the last twelve months and I was nearly just ready to give it away. I have been thrown so many curve balls but my friends and people that I don’t even know have been coming up to me saying never give up.”
With Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett both out of competition for the Men’s 400m Freestyle for the first time in over a decade, it was the chance for Thorpe’s training partner Craig Stevens to claim his maiden title ahead of Nick Ffrost and Brendan Hughes.
The men’s 200m Butterfly final saw Andrew Richard and Travis Nederpelt repeat their epic battle from last year’s final, with Nederpelt stealing a last lap victory ahead of AIS-based Josh Krogh and Richards.
In the Elite Athletes with a Disability events, 2004 Paralympian Sarah Bowen won the 100m Breaststroke while Annabelle Williams claimed the 50m Freestyle.
In the men’s races, Daniel Bell was victorious in the 100m Breaststroke before Paralympic hero Matt Cowdrey took out the 50m Freestyle from fellow star Ben Austin.
Action continues in the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre’s Commonwealth Games Pool until 4 February.
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