|
 Horton confirmed his status as Australia's new long-distance king
with an easy win in the 1500 final at the national championships on
Friday.
Horton cruised to victory in 14 minutes 44.09 seconds, the fastest
time in the world this year and the quickest ever by an 18-year-old,
blowing away Hackett's previous age record.
Hackett, who won successive 1,500 golds at the 2000 Sydney Olympics
and Athens in 2004, has been watching Horton's progress and feels
the teenager can make a splash in Rio de Janeiro next year and set
new world records.
"I always said Mack is the real deal," Hackett told local media.
"Not to put too much pressure on him, but he can win that (2016 Rio
Olympics) race."
Hackett, who also won a silver at the 2008 Beijing Games, held the
world record for 10 years before it was eclipsed by China's Sun Yang
at the 2011 world championships in Shanghai.
Sun raised the bar to 14 minutes 31.02 seconds at the London
Olympics where he won gold.
Horton is likely to clash with Sun at the world championships in
Kazan as the Chinese bids to defend his title after serving a
controversial three-month ban for a doping offense that was kept
under wraps by his country's authorities.
"I like seeing them (records) go down," said Hackett, who succeeded
two-time Olympic champion Kieran Perkins as Australia's top 1,500
swimmer.
"I would like to see (Horton) go faster than 14:34.
"He can swim 14:30 if he wants to -- he's just got to put it
together."
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Hackett also impressed at the national championships, clinching a
berth on the 200m freestyle team for Kazan at the age of 34, only
six months after announcing his return to the pool and a year after
a highly-publicised battle to beat an addiction to a prescription
sleeping drug.
He will be able to give Horton valuable tips as the pair prepare for
Kazan.
"He is someone I have always looked up to -- it's pretty surreal,"
Horton said of Hackett.
"There's a bit of pressure but he is here to help out."
(Writing by Ian Ransom; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
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