Ian Thorpe's comeback on track despite failing

Thorpe had just about missed the start, but with the same methodical stroke that has brought him five Olympic gold medals, he caught and then passed his younger rivals in his heat of the 100m freestyle.

In the closing lap, Thorpe faded badly and finished sixth in 50.21sec. But the swimmer himself saw hope from yesterday's failure.

"Literally, if I went 22 one-hundredths faster I would have been really happy with it, it's kind of the psychological barrier around 50 seconds," Thorpe said.

"It's nice to see the glimmers of possibility in what I can do but they are usually taken away pretty quickly when lactate sets in or whatever else."

Just over an hour later he swam in the 100m individual medley heats.

He missed out on that final, too, with a 56.70sec performance, ranking him ninth overall. It was, however, .04sec faster than his 100m individual medley in Singapore.

It is clear there is much work for the champion to do with just under five months until the Olympic trials.

Yet Thorpe was never going to produce magic in this World Cup series in Asia, said head coach Leigh Nugent.

Yesterday Thorpe was almost three seconds slower than he was at his peak in 2003 when he swam 47.82.

Nugent dubbed Thorpe's first freestyle of his comeback as "pretty solid".

"I don't think it was ever purported for Ian to come here and make some massive breakthrough, but fairytales are written and are usually not performed," Nugent said.

"We are in the reality of sport here and progression back can be an exponential thing. So as time moves on I would expect him to improve with a more rapid progress later on."

Thorpe will swim in the 100m butterfly heats today.

He admits he is struggling in the transition from intense training sessions to racing but quickly replied "ah yes" when asked if he was still aiming for the Olympics.