SYDNEY , Australia -- Eamon Sullivan regained the 50-meter freestyle world record with a 21.41 seconds swim at the Australian Olympic trials in Sydney . Sullivan had lost his 50m freestyle record to Frenchman Alain Bernard four days ago . He took the record back from Frenchman Alain Bernard , who recorded 21.50 seconds at the European championships four days ago . Sullivan had held the record with 21.56 , set in Sydney in February . After missing out on Bernard 's 100m record late on Wednesday , Sullivan said he hoped to improve his 50m time in Friday 's final . `` I came in a bit more relaxed tonight , having got the 100m final out of the way last night and getting into the team for Beijing . `` It 's sweet to get the record back off Alain after missing out on the 100m world record last night and after he broke the 50m record so quickly after I did it . `` I know I have another swim left so there 's always another chance . I hope I can go faster in the final , but I like to think I can take a couple of a hundredths of a second leading into a final , so we 'll see . '' Sullivan missed Bernard 's 100m world record by just two-hundredths of a second in qualifying in 47.52 seconds for the Olympics . Libby Trickett broke the women 's 100m freestyle world record with a 52.88 seconds swim . Trickett , formerly Libby Lenton and competing for the first time under her married name , beat the 53.30 mark set by Germany 's Britta Steffen in Budapest on August 2 , 2006 . It is the second time Trickett has broken the 53-second barrier , but her previous time of 52.99 at the Duel in the Pool in Sydney last year was not ratified by FINA because she was swimming against American superstar Michael Phelps . `` I ca n't tell you how much I wanted to break that record ever since doing it in the Duel in the Pool in April last year . I just wanted it so badly , '' Trickett said . `` To see it officially up there on the scoreboard is just amazing . All my events are very important to me , but the 100m freestyle holds a special place in my heart and to know that four years ago I was going 0.8 seconds off , that is just awesome . '' `` I 've come so far , it 's been an amazing journey , but I am just so happy to be part of this team . We have some fantastic girls coming through and it 's going to be great for our relay team . '' E-mail to a friend