Swimming: Thorpe predicts his comeback will fail

Ian Thorpe, the master of Olympics past, fears his comeback will fall short of earning him a place in the Australian swimming team for the London Games.

The Australian trials begin next week and Thorpe admitted on his return home from his training camp in Switzerland yesterday that he does not expect to be coming back to Europe in July.

"The most realistic outcome of this is that I will most likely fail," said Thorpe, who is competing again after five years in retirement. "I wish I had another six months to do this."

Thorpe hopes to do well enough in the trials to make the 200 metres free relay team but does not feel he is swimming sufficiently well to earn an individual event. Thorpe, 29, won five Olympic gold medals over the Sydney and Athens Games before retiring in 2006.

At the British trials in the venue for the 2012 Games, Fran Halsall furthered the positive impression being created by Britain's women. Halsall, a former world silver medallist, matched the second-fastest time recorded this year in the heats of the 100m free.

"That was really easy," Halsall said. "I was a bit surprised it was that quick to be honest."