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Journalism of Courage
PERTH, Sept 24: Matthew Dunn sliced more than a second from the men8217;s 400 metres individual medley world record at the Australian National short-course swimming championships today.
Dunn clocked four minutes, 4.24 seconds to beat the previous mark of 4:05.41 set by Dutchman Marcel Wouda at a meeting in the World Cup short-course 25-metre pool series in Paris in February last year.
The 25-year-old Australian claimed a share of a long-course 50-metre pool world record at the Commonwealth Games in Malaysia earlier this month as part of the Australian 4215;200 metres freestyle relay team.
Dunn did not compete in the 400m individual medley in Kuala Lumpur because he wanted to concentrate on the relay but showed that he was in brilliant form when he won gold in the 200m individual medley event.
Like most of the Australian swimmers, he flew straight to Perth as soon as his commitments in Kuala Lumpur were over to prepare for these championships, which double as trials for next April8217;s short-course worldchampionships in Hong Kong.
quot;I8217;ve been preparing myself for it over the last week or so,quot; dunn said. quot;It was something i really wanted to target.quot;
Dunn, who completed individual medley doubles at both the 1995 and 1997 short-course world championships, was under world record pace from the outset of today8217;s race but did not realise it until he had completed the backstroke, second of the four legs.
