Thorpe off pace again
Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe's hopes of returning for London 2012 have suffered another blow.
Last Updated: 13/01/12 9:51am
Five-time Olympic champion Ian Thorpe's hopes of returning for London 2012 suffer another blow as he failed to make the state finals.
The 29-year-old came out of retirement last February with the aim of making the Australian swimming squad for the Olympics.
Thorpe, however, was knocked out of the Victoria state titles when he finished seventh in his qualifying heat for the 100m freestyle on Friday.
The off-pace Australian was more than two seconds over his personal best of 48.56, recording an even slower time than he swam at the Italian Championships last month.
Although admitting there is a lot of preparation to do ahead of the Olympic trials, Thorpe insists he is not going backwards.
"It's too slow for where I need to be in a couple of months' time," he said. "It's not setback, I think nothing of this.
Slow
"I'm happy with where I'm at in training. That hasn't translated into anything in competition yet, but a lot of people are reassuring me it will.
"I really wanted two swims today, I'll have another swim tomorrow and hopefully I'll swim better in that."
The Australian will swim in the 200m freestyle tomorrow looking to improve on his performances over the last year with the national trials coming in March.
Thorpe announced his retirement in 2006 after setting 13 world records and winning 11 world championship golds to accompany his five Olympic honours.
