Smith chases butterfly world record

If the National Swimming Championships at the Grove Pool in Belfast needed a boost after the reluctance of some swimmers to travel north this week, they have now been guaranteed a media scrum with Michelle Smith's announcement yesterday that she is to attempt to break the world short-course record in the 200 metres butterfly.

In addition, if Smith achieves, or comes close to, her target of two minutes

5.65 seconds, set by American Mary T Meagher in 1981, she will end all of the will-she-won't-she speculation over her involvement in the European

Championships in Seville, Spain, next month. Since world records were officially established only as recently as 1991 (although some events had established records in 1988), Smith could become the first recognised world record holder over this distance.

The financial arrangement between Smith and the sponsors of the event, TNT

Express Worldwide, is believed to be structured similarly to her deal during the

Olympics in Atlanta last summer, when she received performance bonuses.

A fee for taking part in the attempt, combined with additional payment for

Ines Geissler's 1981 European record of 2:7.18 and Meagher's world record, could net Smith £20,000 for the Belfast swim.

Although the Dubliner has entered several events in Seville, she has consistently said she will not travel to the European Championships, the third biggest event after the Olympic Games and World Championships, unless she meets the training targets set by herself and her husband-coach Eric de Bruin.

"It's a test for myself. If I do well in Belfast, then obviously it will augur well for the championships in Seville," she said.

"I'll only go to the European Championships in Seville if I can do myself justice. It's not going to be easy, but I think I'm someone who rises to a challenge and I hope I can perform under pressure, as I have done before. But if

I broke a world record or came near, then, obviously, I think I'd be in good enough form to go to Seville."

It is only Smith's second competitive swim in Ireland since her three gold and one bronze medal haul in Atlanta. She last competed in the Leisureland event in Galway last March and reduced the Irish record in the 200 metres freestyle to

2:01.38.

"There are two ways that I consider myself to be fit. I can be training fit and I can be racing fit. You can do great times in training, but if you cannot do it when you are up on the blocks, there is no point. I see this swim as a test for myself."

The triple gold medallist attempted to break the 200 metres butterfly record in the same pool two years ago, also in the National Championships, finishing in

2:7.50. On that occasion she failed to pace herself correctly, an error she is aware of and hopes not to repeat this time around.

"When I attempted this record last time it was pointed out to me afterwards that I was under world record pace. That's where I actually made a mistake and lost out on breaking the European record. I put too much effort into the initial

50 metres and then I lost out on the last part of the swim.

"I hope I would have learned something from that. The hardest part is actually judging the first part of the race, and if I can do that properly it will help me in the last part, particularly the last 50 metres. That is where it is going to be won or lost in terms of the records."

Smith is not concerned that she will swim the eight lengths largely on her own. She recently swam on her own in a 1,500 metres event in Belgium, and also qualified for the 400 metres freestyle in the Olympics after a pre-Atlanta solo swim in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is highly unlikely that anyone from Ireland will be able to hold her pace.

Smith swims her heat in the event today at 10.00 a.m., with the final scheduled for just after 5.0 p.m.