Olympic swimming trials: Cate Campbell breaks Commonwealth 50m freestyle record

CATE Campbell jokes that all she did was hit a poker machine “spin” button and – ding, ding, ding – up came a new 50m freestyle Commonwealth record.

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA - APRIL 14: Cate Campbell of Australia celebrates winning the Women's 50 Metre Freestyle during the 2016 Australian Swimming Championships at the South Australia Leisure & Aquatic Centre on April 14, 2016 in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

CATE Campbell jokes that all she did was hit a poker machine “spin” button and – ding, ding, ding – up came a new 50m freestyle Commonwealth record.

The 23-year-old Queenslander edged out younger sister Bronte on the closing night of Swimming Australia’s Olympic trials at the South Australian Aquatic Centre, on her way to clocking a new Australian and Commonwealth record of 23.84 seconds.

The Campbells’ dominant sister act mirrored the pair’s one-two result in the 100m final on Tuesday.

Bronte Campbell raises the arm of sister Cate after Cate broke the Commonwealth 50m freestyle record at the Olympic swimming trials in Adelaide on Thursday night.

Cate Campbell’s 50m time last night was 0.09s faster than the previous best she set a day earlier, and now sits just 0.11s outside the mark set by Germany’s Britta Steffen in 2009 during the supersuit era.

The performance capped a superb meet for the veteran on her way to a third Olympic Games in Rio despite an ongoing battle with injury that included a bizarre dose of wrist soreness sustained this week while sleeping.

“It’s been a bit of a rocky road in the past couple of years,” Campbell said.

“You find (injury) often zaps your top end of speed. You can hold it together for a 100m but swimming a 50 is a bit like playing pokies – you push a button and you don’t know what is going to come up.

“It might be all good or it might be a mixed bag.

“But I’m very pleased with the times I’ve been producing. That’s a PB, so how can I not be pleased with that?

“To drop almost 0.1s in a 50m is quite a lot, so I’m extremely pleased with how it’s going.”

It was the Cate and Bronte show again from the gun as the sprint sisters charged to the lead in the one-lap dash.

Cate always held the edge over her younger sibling as each threatened the red line signifying the world record until the closing 5m.

Cate touched half a stroke in front of Bronte, and as both turned to the screen to confirm their double success, last year’s 50m world champion held up her older sister’s arm in triumph.

The silver medallist at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games said she had room to improve in her pursuit of the world record, but refused to let the mark distract her Olympic campaign.

“I almost got it the other night as well,” she said.

“It would be pretty cool but, to be honest, I’ve never got something from going after it from behind the blocks. Once I hit the water I can get it but if I’m trying to get it behind the blocks then I’ve gone too early.

“So for me it’s about not focusing on those world records.

“If they fall, they fall. But my job is to do the best I can and that starts as soon as I hit the water.”

Originally published as Olympic swimming trials: Cate Campbell breaks Commonwealth 50m freestyle record