The bragging rights battle over who is the world's fastest man in the pool has been settled - for now.
Eamon Sullivan last night reset his own one-day old world mark in the men's 50 metres freestyle, and he did it convincingly during the event's final at the Olympic selection trials in Sydney.
He sliced 0.13 seconds off the record.
His coach describes it as the perfect swim, while Sullivan says he still has more in the tank for the Beijing Games.
Crowd support launched Eamon Sullivan into the pool.
The 22-year-old immediately took the lead and the ABC's Gerry Collins took the call of the race from there.
"I tell you what, he is flying after 20 metres or so. Sullivan out in front of the rest of the field. Could be Callus or Newton possibly," he said.
"They're starting to close a little bit on him, but he is heading in towards the wall. World record coming up here - 21.28, 21.28! Another new world record to Eamon Sullivan! Wow!"
Between Sullivan and Frenchman Alain Bernard the world record in the 50m freestyle has now changed hands four times in eight days.
Breaking the mark in the semis the previous night took the pressure off Sullivan and he surprised himself.
"I was hoping for a 21.39 or .38 but to go that far under is just amazing, just so happy with it," he said.
His coach Grant Stoelwinder could not fault his performance.
"It wasn't rushed, it wasn't out of control, like last night was really swinging at it and going at it and he was just holding that much length of a stroke," he said.
"I thought it looked the perfect race, the whole way through, there is nothing I could pick that was wrong."
Sullivan will head to Beijing as a gold medal favourite and he knows he has sent a strong warning to his fellow sprint racers.
"It's an amazing feeling to have done that and obviously send a big message like that. It makes me feel confident that the training I'm doing is working," he said.
Records tumbling
Seven world records have now been broken at the Olympic selection trials in Sydney.
Add to that the other clutch of world records that have been broken since the new seamless body suits were released and this Olympic year is looking very fast for swimming.
Champion breaststroker Brenton Rickard says the suits can not take the credit for the fast times.
"You can't just throw a suit on any person on the street and expect them to go 21.28 like someone did tonight. You'd be absolutely kidding yourself," he said.
Rickard, who says he has been having the swimming meet of his career, set a new Commonwealth record last night to win the 50 metres breaststroke final in 27.30 seconds.
Meagen Nay also set a new Commonwealth record in the 200 metres backstroke, while Cate Campbell scored one in the semi-finals of the 50 metres freestyle.
Kylie Palmer came close to a record taking out the final of the 800 metres, but her qualification for the Beijing games means her father has a big job ahead of him.
"He promised me a few months ago that if I made the Olympic team he'd lose weight so, it's kind of my big thing for Dad, wanting him to lose weight and be happy," she said.
Source: By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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