Australia's Libby Trickett broke the women's 50 meters freestyle on the final night of the national Olympic trials here on Saturday.

Trickett, formerly Lenton, clocked 23.97 seconds to trim 0.12 seconds off the five-day-old mark set by Dutchwoman Marleen Veldhuis at the European championships in Eindhoven.

The 23-year-old Trickett beat rising young sprint star Cate Campbell, 15, who was expected to be the one hunting down Veldhuis's record on Saturday rather than Trickett.

In the men's events, team captain Grant Hackett claimed his signature 1500 meters freestyle event winning the national title in a time of 14 minutes 48.65 seconds ahead of Craig Stevens (14:53.18).

It was Hackett's fastest time since winning the world title in 2005 and having shoulder surgery in 2006 which prevented him competing at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

It was one of the fastest national trials ever held in Australia with a total of eight world records.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2008)