Injury-hit Rice at full strength for trials

Triple Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice said yesterday she was fully recovered from shoulder surgery and close to her best ahead of this weekend’s Australian championships in Sydney.

Rice, one of the stars of the pool at the 2008 Beijing Games, had surgery for an inflamed right shoulder which forced her to miss the New Delhi Commonwealth Games last October.

Rice, 22, has a heavy programme of up to 17 swims at the national championships, which will double as trials for July’s world championships in Shanghai.

“I haven’t felt this confident about my training and everything for a while now,” Rice told reporters.

“I’m really excited as I haven’t raced quite competitively and seriously for about a year now so I’m really looking forward to the challenge and going through the motions of racing and being under pressure and nerves.”

Rice’s coach Michael Bohl believes she is approaching her Beijing Olympics form after a heavy workload in training.

“She’s looking very strong coming in,” Bohl said.

“She’s stronger than a few years ago and she’s looking to qualify in the team with times as close to Beijing as she can.”

While Ian Thorpe and Libby Trickett announced their comebacks too late to be eligible for the eight-day trials, Australia’s stars at last year’s Commonwealth Games will be vying for spots on the World Championship team.

Commonwealth Games gold medallists Geoff Huegill, Brenton Rickard, Leisel Jones, Alicia Coutts, Jessicah Schipper and Emily Seebohm will be competing, along with Rice and Eamon Sullivan.