London setbacks for Thorpe, Trickett

Olympic greats Ian Thorpe and Libby Trickett suffered major setbacks in their bids to make the Australian team for the London Olympics at the selection trials in Adelaide yesterday.

Five-time Olympic champion Thorpe, on the comeback trail after five years out of the pool, bombed out on qualifying for today’s 200-metre freestyle final when he slumped to the 12th fastest time in the semi-finals.

Trickett also put on a brave face after missing her chance to defend her Olympic 100m butterfly title when she came third in the final behind Alicia Coutts (57.59 seconds) and Jessicah Schipper (57.88) with just two going through to contest the event in London.

The huge disappointment for the sold-out crowd was national sporting hero Thorpe’s failure to fight his way into the top eight qualifiers as he dropped off to finish fifth in his semi-final behind fastest qualifier Ryan Napoleon.

Thorpe’s time of one minute 49.91 seconds was almost six seconds slower than his 2001 world record of 1:44.06 for the event.

His hopes ride on the 100m freestyle, starting tomorrow. Even if he cannot finish in the top two, he still has a chance of swimming in the sprint relay in London by finishing in the top six.