Palmer in national record freestyle win

Kylie Palmer swam a national record time in edging out Bronte Barratt in the 200 metres freestyle at Australia’s world championships trials in Sydney on Monday.

Palmer, 21, claimed her second title of the meet in an Australian record time of one minute 55.73 seconds to finish just one-hundredth of a second ahead of the year older Barrett.

The duo also fought out the 400m final last Friday, with Palmer winning that battle by only seven hundredths of a second.

Both will compete in the two freestyle events at July’s world championships in Shanghai, China, with Palmer’s winning 200m time ranking her as the 10th fastest woman of all time in the event.

“If I can just get back in the water and keep training the way I was, it gives me great confidence for the worlds... smash em’,” Palmer said.

Palmer claimed the 200m gold at last year’s New Delhi Commonwealth Games after fighting back from a shoulder surgery, but said she had surpassed her own expectations at this meet.

It was also a close call in the men’s 200m butterfly final with Jayden Hadler (1:56.28) taking the event in the absence of an ill Nick D’Arcy.

But Hadler missed out on a spot on the team for the worlds with his time eight-hundredths of a second outside the designated qualifying time.

The championships run to next Friday.