WORLD CUP SWIMMING Australian just misses his own world mark

Grant Hackett said he wanted to show his rivals he has been working hard.
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Australian Grant Hackett was 1.5 seconds outside his world record in winning the 400-meter freestyle from American Chad Carvin at a World Cup shortcourse meet today.
Hackett finished in 3 minutes, 36.17 seconds, more than 5 seconds ahead of Carvin.
After the race, Hackett said he was disappointed that teammate Ian Thorpe, the world record holder in the same distance in the 50-meter pool, had decided to skip the 400 in the 25-meter pool.
Thorpe has decided to enter only the 50-meter freestyle Sunday at the three-day event.
"I want to show my rivals that I'm working hard and I'm coming here to race hard and show how fast I'm swimming," Hackett said.
Pieter van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands threatened one of swimming's oldest world records in the 100-meter freestyle final.
He was well under world record pace after the first 50 meters, but tired at the end to finish in 47.20, less than half a second outside Russian Alex Popov's eight-year-old world shortcourse mark.
German Thomas Rupprath, taking 23.49 in the 50-meter backstroke, was 0.26 seconds outside the world record he set last week in Shanghai, China.
World 100-meter breaststroke record holder Emma Igelstrom of Sweden clocked 1:05.55, just 0.17 seconds outside her best.
Chinese 13-year-old Zhang Tianyi won the women's 400-meter individual medley in 4:35.69.