Swimming: Thorpe to drop 400m from programme

SYDNEY - Ian Thorpe plans to sacrifice an almost guaranteed gold medal in his favourite middle-distance swimming event at next year's Commonwealth Games to pursue his dream of becoming a specialist sprinter.

The Australian said he was dropping the 400m freestyle from his schedule to concentrate his efforts on the 100m and 200m.

Thorpe, 23, holds the world record for 400m and is unbeaten over the distance since 1997 and would have been a near-certainty to win in Melbourne in the absence of his main rival Grant Hackett, who is recovering from shoulder surgery.

He also holds the 200m world record and is unbeaten in that event for five years but said he wanted to focus his attention on the 100m after finishing third in the blue riband sprint at last year's Athens Olympics.

"It is pretty clear, I am not doing it," Thorpe said.

"I have gone nine months training specifically for those events so it is not the right thing.

"I am focused on those two events. It would throw out the window all the work I have done for those events and it would jeopardise them."

Thorpe swam all three events in Athens, winning gold in the 200m and 400m and bronze in the 100m, but said he was still undecided about his programme for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where he would have the opportunity to become the first male swimmer to win the same individual event at three Games.

"If I was not getting down to where I wanted in the 100m I would consider doing all three again," he said.

Thorpe made his long awaited return to competitive swimming at a World Cup meet in Sydney on Saturday after taking a year's sabbatical to recharge his batteries after Athens.

He posted the fastest qualifying time in the heats of the 100m despite suffering the effects of bronchitis but withdrew from the final.

- REUTERS