Thomas Fraser Holmes keen to race Ian Thorpe in the 200m freestyle – Swimming News
Gold medallist for the 200m freestyle at the 2011 Telstra Australian Swimming Championship, Thomas Fraser Holmes, has expressed his keen interest to face Australian comeback king, Ian Thorpe, at the trials for the 2012 London Olympics.
Holmes won his gold medal at the recent championship, which also acts as a trial basis for the selection of national swimmers to compete at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, this July. Holmes confirmed his spot for Shanghai in the 200m event, with
an astounding time of 1:47.19 minutes ahead of the Kenrick Monk, who won a silver medal in a time of 1:47.53 minutes. After his victory in the freestyle event, Holmes said that he is very excited and set defend his title against the one of the greatest Australian
swimmers, Thorpe.
Thorpe, who just made a comeback to competitive swimming after four years, announced in February 2011 that he will be trying to qualify for the Australian Olympic Team in the events of 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and the freestyle relays.
Holmes added that he is not worried about losing his race from Thorpe, instead, he is honoured to swim against the great Olympian and he will focus on his swimming solely. He said that Thorpe has the potential to be a great swimmer and he can learn a lot
from Thorpe’s experience.
Fraser Holmes said, “'Look it's going to be great for the [4 x 200m freestyle] relay for Australia, and I can't wait to race him, to be honest.”
Holmes also said that everyone will be having their eyes on the 200m freestyle next year and no one will worry about the 50m and the 100m freestyle. Apart from the tough qualification time standard imposed by FINA, Australian head coach, Leigh Nugent, has
also imposed a restriction that he will only take those swimmers to China, who will post a time under the world’s top twelve.
Holmes was the only one among the top eight finalists of the 200m freestyle to meet Nugent’s criteria. He added, “'I was just going out there to get top five really. In warm-up, I felt good but I didn't feel sparky. I guess it just shows that despite how
you feel in warm-up, sometimes that doesn't translate into what you can do in a race.”
Holmes expressed his happiness to win the gold medal under the time qualification standard and said that he will work hard to sustain his position in Shanghai and to give a tough time to the former champion at next year’s trials.
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