Swimming: English backstroke record for Parry

The celebrations that followed the Commonwealth Games looked to have left Britain's swimmers with one almighty hangover judging by the dreary performances here yesterday. For onlookers the entertainment came from guessing which big names will miss out on the European Championships later this year.

The British Short Course Championships represent the only chance to qualify and with a first-past-the-post selection criteria, where only one senior swimmer can qualify in each event, there was little room for complacency. But there was no apathy in Stephen Parry's approach last night as he bounced back from what he regards as a disappointing silver medal in the 200m butterfly at the Commonwealth Games.

For Parry, a move back to his former club and a change of coach looked to have taken immediate effect. Last night it was two titles, namely the 200m individual medley and the 200m backstroke, the latter yielding a new English record of 1.54.49sec. More important for Parry was the three scalps he took in his defeat of James Goddard, Gregor Tait and Simon Militis, the 200m backstroke medallists at the Games in Manchester.

"I was disappointed with the Commonwealths because the race was won in a time slower than my best so to win twice today and beat the three Commonwealth medallists is tremendous," Parry said.

* Australia's Ian Thorpe has split from his coach Doug Frost. The 19-year-old, who achieved 17 world records and three Olympic gold medals under Frost's guidance, has entrusted his future to Frost's assistant, Tracey Menzies, a 29-year-old Sydney art teacher.

"I wasn't enjoying myself training as much as I should be," Thorpe explained. "I decided I either had to make the change or to walk away from the sport. At the end of the day I decided that Tracey was the best coach for myself."