Thorpe comes from behind to win medley gold

Andy Moorhouse Reuters Stockholm, Sweden

Australian Ian Thorpe completed a golden double with a stunning victory in the 200 meters individual medley at the short course World Cup meeting on Wednesday.

Though the win did not have the drama of Thorpe's near world record in Tuesday's 400m freestyle, it underlined his ability to move away from his freestyle speciality and sent out an ominous message before next year's world championships in Barcelona.

Thorpe, in his first medley race for six years, left a series of specialists in his wake as he captured the third title of his three-legged European tour that concludes this weekend in Berlin.

Britain's James Hickman, the winner of the event in Paris last weekend and eventual silver medalist here, led during the butterfly and backstroke but was overhauled as Thorpe powered away in the breaststroke and freestyle to win in 1:56.00.

New Zealand's Dean Kent, the 400m-medley champion in both Paris and Stockholm, was more than two seconds back in the bronze medal position.

Canada's Brian Johns took full advantage of Thorpe's late no- show in the 200m freestyle to win gold as he narrowly edged out Romania's Dragos Coman in 1:46.56.

Russia's Roman Sloudnov took the 100 meters breaststroke title, while compatriot Igor Marchenko condemned Hickman to his second silver of the evening in the 100m butterfly.

Sweden's Emma Igelstrom delighted the home crowd with quick- fire golds in the 50m and 200m breaststroke, while Lindsay Benko of the United States took the 400m freestyle crown in 4.03.13.

Evergreen British sprint specialist Mark Foster, 32, may have had five years experience over his nearest 50m freestyle rival, but he proved age had not wearied him by edging out South Africa's Roland Schoeman for gold in a time of 21.39.

Britain's Chris Cook lowered the Commonwealth record for the 100m breaststroke with a swim of 58.91 to shave 0.11 seconds off the time set by teammate James Gibson in December 2001.