Aussie swimmer Trickett struggles in comeback

Triple Olympic gold medallist Libby Trickett struggled in her comeback to competitive swimming at Australia's short course championships in Adelaide. Trickett, 26, in her first meet since her retirement in August 2009, on Saturday was 11th overall in the 50m freestyle heats in a time of 25.41sec and 13th in 1:00.86 in the heats of the 100m butterfly. This follows her sixth placings in Friday's 50m butterfly and the 100m freestyle finals. She clocked 26.72sec in the 50m butterfly final, more than one second outside the winning time of 15-year-old Yolane Kukla. And in the 100m final, Trickett's time of 54.18sec was almost a second behind winner Marieke Guehrer. "What is really exciting is that I have proved to myself again and again, my racing abilities are still there and are very fresh," Trickett said. "For me I just really need to get fitter, stronger and leaner. It's exciting to recognise that. "To know that technically, skill-wise, racing-wise, I have that ability, I just need to get faster. "I know 100 percent I will be able to do that in the next 12 months." Trickett on Wednesday missed out on qualifying for this month's Shanghai long-course world championships in a 100m freestyle relay selection trial in Adelaide. Trickett finished sixth in the swim-off in 55.68sec behind 50m butterfly world champion Guehrer, who qualified for the Australian team for Shanghai.