|
|
 |
 |
|
articles He is fit, young, raw and passionate. He walks around the pool deck in a relaxed but confident manner. He knows the 1500 metres is his for the asking. The records of Kieren Perkins, which he has been methodically demolishing through the age ranks, has shown him that. Perkins, too, walks around the Chandler Pool, his regal manner is still apparent, but a humbling and more mature side shows through. He is worried but not panicking. He realises that perhaps he should have fully rested and tapered for these championships, but it is too late. He said he was "less comfortable" about making the Australian team, a situation he has not been in in the past seven years of his stellar swimming career. His fear is not Hackett, whom Perkins tips to win, but Daniel Kowalski and rookie surf-swimmer Jason Samuelson, both of whom he must beat to make the team. Kowalski is carefree and relaxed. He has already made the Australian team, in the 4 x 200 metres freestyle relay but that result was even better than he expected after restricting his training because of sore shoulders. Kowalski is a proven performer having shown results in 1994 and 1995 swimming even though hindered by injury and illness. He came to Brisbane expecting nothing better than a fourth place in the 1500 metres freestyle but has quickly revised his expectations to fight for a second place. And then there is 18-year-old Samuelson, the dark horse in a race that has four extraordinary men battling for two spots in the 1500 metres freestyle at the world titles in Perth next January. Samuelson, who trains on the Gold Coast, must cut an astounding 20 to 30 seconds from his best time to be competitive in the race, but already he has beaten Perkins in the 1500 metres heats, breaking the world record holder with a strong surge midrace. He is an under-18 surf star who won three gold medals at the Australian surf lifesaving championships this year and decided less than 12 months ago to see if he could topple the big names of Perkins and Kowalski and force his way into the Australian swim team. "I want to make the team really bad," he said. Over the past few years the 1500 metres has been a riveting drama. But with everyone tipping the in-form Hackett to win, never before has the focus been so much on who will come second. Hackett, the 17-year-old Mermaid Waters swimmer who started duck diving as a four-year-old in Innisfail, shocked his rivals with a stunning win in the 400 metres earlier this week. But with only the first two to finish earning a berth for the glamor 1500 metres in Perth, the race appears to be a three-pronged battle for the silver medal between Perkins, Kowalski and Samuelson. While it seems that Perkins has been the swimmer to struggle the most during the week in the 200 metres and 400 metres freestyles, no one is doubting his tremendous abilities to fight back - if he really wants it. Last year at the Atlanta Olympic trials Perkins had failed to qualify for the Australian team in either the 200 metres freestyle, an event in which he was Commonwealth champion, or the 400 metres freestyle, an event in which he is the world record holder. He scraped into the team after a gritty duel with Kowalski, who only just touched him out, on the final night in the 1500 metres. We all know that at the Olympics Perkins swam poorly in the 1500 metres heats, qualifying for the final by a heartstopping two-tenths of a second. He was in the outside lane eight, but produced one of the great swims to emerge with the gold medal. This week Perkins has failed to qualify in either the 200 metres or 400 metres freestyles. Again it is this last event in the trials that will determine whether he misses his first Australian team since making the Commonwealth Games team in 1990, or whether he can again ignore his physical limitations - he has said he is only 85 per cent fit - and grind out another memorable swim. "I'm not going to shoot myself because of a bad swim," Perkins said. "I am a grown man, I can handle it. But I am less comfortable about qualifying, Daniel is swimming quite good and he would have got a lot more confident about going into the 1500. "Mentally I am not down by my previous performances, if I have got a good 1500 metres in me I will swim it and mentally I give myself every opportunity. I am going to swim as well as I can because I want to make the team." But Perkins is noticeably distracted and has seemingly lost the hunger that fuels his superb swims. He has said that he is not worried if he fails to make the team, for there is the Commonwealth Games next year. And he has other distractions, not least the birth of his daughter Georgia two weeks ago. He is also well aware that to be around for the Sydney Olympics and to win a cherished third gold medal, he has to pick and choose his key events. His 24-year-old body would not withstand the rigors of 1500 metres training if pursued unrelentlessly for the next three years and he has the comfort of his past record to pull him through. Still, the shock of his dismal 400 metres performance on Wednesday night has raised some doubts and dented his confidence about his ability to spring back into shape at call. "The improvement I have been looking for hasn't been there," he said. "I've been working at it for 10 months, I may have hit the wall. Maybe it would have been better to taper and rest, that may have helped me perform better." Kowalski, who keeps his small frame in check with regular training runs with his mates at South East Melbourne Magic basketball club, said yesterday that he wasn't fooled by Perkins' lacklustre swimming so far in the trials. "I've seen Kieren go from a 15 minutes, 18 swim to a sub-15 minute swim in the biggest meet of the entire world and I would be stupid if I was buoyed (by his poor form)," he said. "I can't remember when he's gone slower but we could talk theories all night and he has been in this position before - he could come out and do anything." As could Kowalski. The Victorian Institute of Sport swimmer has been training at the Melbourne Aquatic Centre for six weeks, completing around 38 kilometres of training a week, well down on his usual tally of between 80 and 90. Coach Bill Nelson said Kowalski's enormous amount of background training has helped him swim far better than he expected. He finished fourth in the 200 metres on Monday night, earning a relay berth, and just missed out on a world spot in the 400 metres freestyle (his Olympic bronze medal event) by finishing third to Hackett and the 14-year-old phenonemon Ian Thorpe on Wednesday night. "Daniel is just happy to be here," said Nelson, who deliberately put Kowalski in pressure situations like appearing on Sale of the Century and racing the Pier-to-Pub event prior to the Olympics to develop his toughness. "His expectations are a lot lower, he just wants to line up and he'll be happy wherever he finishes." But while his injuries have been frustrating, Kowalski has been able to quickly re-adjust his earlier expectations of not qualifying into having a reasonable chance. "It is feasible for me to get the second spot," he said after the heat swim where he qualified second fastest, just ahead of Samuelson. Samuelson predicted he would have to race hard in the initial stages. "I don't want to get too far away from Hackett, but I think I will be mainly trying to fight off the other two," he said. Hackett is the form swimmer. If he handles the mental pressure of facing the intimidating Perkins and Kowalski, he is capable of a superb swim. Perkins has tipped Hackett could clock around 14.50, a time second only to his world record. The youngest son of policeman Nev and hairdresser Margaret, Hackett said it is bizarre that he is looking at world rankings and comparing times with his hero Perkins. "Six months ago I was looking at age group records," he said. But Hackett has long been compared with Perkins, whose age group times he has systematically lowered. Hackett dearly wants to break the 15-minute mark and join the elite distance swimmers, but said tonight's race is about winning, not the time. "The 15-minute barrier is always at the back of my mind, but the priority is to win the event," he said. "I know that somewhere I'll do it, I'm still young and I have plenty of time up my sleeve." Grant Hackett, 17, Gold Coast 1500m personal best: 15.03.67 Has emerged as the big threat to Perkins and Kowalski after clocking the fourth fastest time by an Australian in the 1500m freestyle at the Pan Pacific trials last March. His attempt to break the 15-minute mark in August at the Pan Pacs failed because of a virus. Currently world ranked No.2, he holds the 1500m world record for 15-year-olds. Kieren Perkins, 24, Brisbane 1500m personal best: 14.41.66 (world record) Has broken eight world records, swum four of the five fastest times over the 1500m freestyle, is the current world record holder in the 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle races (long course) and the 800m and 1500m freestyle race (shortcourse - 25m pool). Current Olympic champion. Has no current world ranking after electing not to compete in events earlier this year. Daniel Kowalski, 22, Melbourne 1500m personal best: 14.53.42 Holds the third fastest 1500m time behind Perkins and German Jorg Hoffman.
Won the 1500m freestyle silver at the world championships in 1994, the
Commonwealth Games in 1994 and the Atlanta Olympics. Beat Perkins in the
1500m at last year's Olympic trials. Currently world ranked 19th
|
|
|