 Thorpe also won the 100m, 200m, and 400m |
Ian Thorpe addeed to his haul of records by setting a new Commonwealth mark for the 200m medley in his first attempt at the event. The Australian took gold at the national championships in Sydney in a time of two minutes 00.11 seconds, beating compatriot Matt Dunn's 1998 Commonwealth record of 2:00.26.
Thorpe, who holds the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle world records, did not contest the 800m in Sydney, preferring to try a new event.
And the four-time world swimmer of the year trailed 2001 medley world bronze medallist Justin Norris in the early stages, but powered home in the freestyle leg.
Norris was second in 2:01.19 with Mitchell Bacon third in 2:03.24.
"That was fun. It was something new," said Thorpe, who was 1.95 seconds outside the 1994 world record of 1:58.16 set by Finland's Jani Sievinen.
"I was just off two minutes but maybe next time.
"I have a little bit of work that needs to be done before the world championships but I'm really happy with that swim tonight."
The national titles, which end on Saturday, double as selection trials for the world championships in Barcelona in July.
Earlier in the meeting, Thorpe also won the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle events.
Meanwhile, Australia's 1,500m freestyle world record-holder Grant Hackett won the 800m freestyle final in 7:44.91.
The 22-year-old slowed inside the closing 200m to finish more than five seconds outside Thorpe's 2001 mark of 7:39.16.
MMIX
Email this to a friend 
Printable version