Veterans Geoff Huegill and Michael Klim turned back the clock as the comeback swimmers qualified for the 100m butterfly finals at the NSW championships in Sydney on Sunday.
Competing together for the first time in almost six years, Huegill clock 53.17 seconds and Klim 53.72 to reach Sunday night’s final along with the likes of Jayden Hadler (52.71) and Nick D’Arcy (53.28).
“It brought back a lot of memories for me which was quite exciting,” Huegill said of racing his former arch rival Klim, who beat him to gold at Pan Pacs in the same pool at Sydney Olympic Park 13 years ago.
“This is a guy who has experience, he’s a former world record holder, he knows what needs to be done.”
Huegill, 32, revealed he had considered pulling out of the Sydney meet after a disrupted preparation due to a virus picked up in January.
His build-up for next month’s Olympic trials has also coincided with the birth of his first child Mila last month but Huegill said fatherhood had not hindered his preparations.
“The baby stuff has been a breeze,” Huegill said.
“I’ve been banished to the other end of the house so I’ve been able to get my eight-nine hours of sleep at night and sleep during the day.
“My family has just been amazing and so supportive, I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
Klim, 34, was encouraged by another solid swim after improving upon the best 100m freestyle time of his comeback in Friday night’s final.
“I seem to be backing up at a consistent level, now I’ve just got to jump to the next one,” Klim said.
Stephanie Rice continued her comeback from shoulder surgery with a decent swim to qualify for the final of the 200m individual medley.
Rice (2:17.35) was fourth fastest behind Emily Seebohm (2:15.52) and said she would swim in the final with her troublesome shoulder feeling OK.
“It felt pretty good on the day off (on Saturday) and it was nice to have a day off and just get some good physio and massage in,” Rice said.
Matt Abood (22.26) led the way into the men’s 50m freestyle final, ahead of a strong field including 100m world champion James Magnussen (22.92) and Eamon Sullivan (23.04).
Magnussen said he mainly used the 50m event to practice for his pet event but would not knock back the chance to swim in the shorter event if he can qualify for it at trials.
“If I’m quick enough, I’d certainly be happy to represent Australia in as many events as I can,” Magnussen said.
Leiston Pickett (30.95) topped the women’s 50m breaststroke heats, with Leisel Jones opting not to swim.
