SYDNEY (AFP) - Eamon Sullivan added another chapter to his fairytale week when he smashed the 50 metres freestyle world record for the second day in a row at the Australian Olympic trials here Friday.
The 22-year-old from Perth swam 21.28 seconds in the final to shave 0.13 sec off the 21.41 he set on Thursday.
The West Australian said his form should have his opponents worried ahead of the Olympics, but he said he wouldn't get too carried away.
"Hopefully they'll be shaking in their boots," he said.
"But you never know, it's a long year and it's an Olympic year so there's still a lot of national trials to go, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lot of fast times coming up."
Sullivan, whose girlfriend Stephanie Rice broke the 200m and 400m individual medley records this week, is locked in a fierce rivalry with Alain Bernard, who took the swimming world by storm at the European championships.
The Frenchman broke Pieter van den Hoogenband's 100m world record in Eindhoven and lowered his own mark again when he swam 47.50 in the final.
Bernard then broke Sullivan's month-long 50m record, before Sullivan dramatically snatched it back on Thursday.
And Sullivan went agonisingly close to Bernard's 100m mark in Wednesday's final, touching the wall just two-hundredths of a second outside the record.
Sullivan, who ignored his coach Grant Stoelwinder's advice when he set the 50m record on Thursday, said this time he had paid attention after being on the receiving end of some harsh words.
"I went against what my coach told me last night and still broke it (the record)," he said.
"I got a few words spoken to me tonight and I followed it and have swum faster."
Sullivan was even talking about the possibility of someone breaking the 47-second mark over 100 metres this year.
"There are so many guys out there swimming that fast and it only takes two swimmers for everyone to start realising that it is not impossible and it is just going to be a landslide from now on," he said.
"The 47 (seconds) is the old 48 and the 48 is the old 50.
"Sprinting is really seeing a new generation and it is really being revolutionised by a few people and times are going to continue dropping."
