REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Saturday, March 31, 2007

LIBBY Lenton put disappointment behind her to snatch gold from a stellar field in the 100m freestyle final at the World Championships in Melbourne.

Lenton equalled the championships record of 53.40s to edge out Dutch flyer Marleen Veldhuis (53.70), German world record holder Britta Steffen (53.74) and fastest qualifier Natalie Coughlin of the USA (53.87).

She was one tenth of a second off the world record she once owned.

Australian defending champion Jodie Henry finished sixth. Lenton, who had already collected two gold medals that week, said her third was the result of a lot of hard work.

‘‘It’s just a special feeling,’’ she said.

‘‘The 100 freestyle is something I’ve worked towards for so long in my career and I didn’t even get to race it at the last worlds (didn’t qualify).’’

Lenton’s success was fresh from the frustration of failing to qualify for the 50m butterfly semi-finals.

The 22-year-old said she made a “total mistake” to finish sixth in the fastest heat of the morning.

Her time of 27.36 left her ranked 18th while fellow Australian Danni Miatke qualified fastest (26.34).

Miatke went on to qualify fourth fastest for the final (26.57).

Lenton, who was a week away from wedding fiance Luke Trickett, was philosophical about her performance.

‘‘I tried to conserve energy and I thought I was further up in the field than I was,’’ she said. ‘‘(It was) just a really dumb, amateur mistake.”