Torres Sets U.S. Record In 50 Freestyle

OMAHA, July 6 -- Dara Torres's victory in the 100-meter freestyle Friday night stunned even herself. What the 41-year-old expected when she arrived here was to win the 50 freestyle, and she finished her comeback story -- sure to be one of the most talked-about heading into the Beijing Games -- by easily winning her best event Sunday night.

Torres trounced much younger competition at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials, setting a U.S. mark in 24.25 seconds -- .57 of a second faster than runner-up Jessica Hardy, who is 21. Torres beat her previous U.S. record, which she set in semifinals Saturday, by .13 of a second.

"I was hoping to go fast because they have girls in the world that are going 24.1s and 23.9," Torres said, speaking of Australians Libby Trickett and Cate Campbell as well as Marleen Veldhuis of the Netherlands. "I have five more weeks to try to drop a couple tenths to hopefully be in competition with those girls."

Torres said she would have to sit down with U.S. head coach Mark Schubert to decide if she would swim in the 100 freestyle in Beijing. She entered the event here primarily to earn a spot on the 4x100 relay, and she doesn't want to have the 100 freestyle -- in which she is a long shot to win a medal -- interfere with her relay participation and the 50.

"I don't know what I'm going to do with that," she said.

She does know that she's not merely going to Beijing to be along for the ride.

"Anyone can say that your goal is to make the team," said Torres, who has won nine Olympic medals. "But once you're on the team, I think anyone will tell you they're going for medals. I can't sit here and lie and say, 'Oh, I'm just glad I'm going.' I want to win a medal."

Torres also revealed that she takes a combination of amino acids that, to this point, is only available in Europe. Torres's coach, Michael Lohberg, introduced her to the product, which was developed by German swimmer Mark Warnecke.

"I feel like it's helped me gain muscle and helped with a speedy recovery," said Torres, who called it her "little secret."

Vendt Upset

One of the biggest upsets of the meet came in the last event, when Erik Vendt, who had the fastest time in the world in the 1,500 freestyle this year, bombed in the final. Peter Vanderkaay, who trains with Vendt at the University of Michigan, won in 14 minutes 45.54 seconds, and U.S. record holder Larsen Jensen, the silver medalist in the event in Athens, was second, nearly five seconds behind.

Vendt placed fourth in 15:07.78 -- exactly 21 seconds slower than the time he swam at a meet in May in Missouri.

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Vendt, who made the 4x200 relay team. "This is what I've been training for all year. It's really disappointing. . . . It's going to be hard to watch that event."