Hobart swimmer Nicole Hunter last night showed she has what it takes to match it with swimming's stars, winning a bronze medal at the FINA World Cup in Hobart.
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Hunter, 15, finished third in the 200m butterfly in front of a cheering home crowd.
Hunter recorded 2:12.95secs, behind American Kristine Quance and Australian Lara Davenport.
Hunter had recorded the sixth fastest time in the 200m butterfly heat with 2:15.64secs.
In the 50m event she missed out on the final, recording the 10th fastest time of 28.87 secs.
Former Hobart swimmer Beau Mannix also performed strongly last night finishing sixth in the 50m backstroke _ the same race where Matt Welsh set a world record.
Mannix's time was 25.64secs.
Mannix had qualified fifth fastest for the final. He missed out on the 200m backstroke final, swimming 16th fastest in the heat with a time of 2:03.87secs.
Meanwhile, Australian star Michael Klim was not far off record pace in the 100m butterfly final, recording a time of 51.74 secs.
He holds the world record of 51.07secs for the short-course event.
Klim said he had felt strong going out in the first 50m but had not really known where the other swimmers were.
``I did my own thing and the last 50 really hurt,'' Klim said.
He said the next World Cup event in Sydney next Friday and Saturday would be his last hit-out before he started some serious work.
Ian Thorpe also took gold last night in one of his favourite events _ the 200m freestyle. Thorpe won the race by almost a body-length. His time was 1:47.03 _ almost fours seconds outside his world record.
In other Tasmanian results, former Burnie swimmer Stephen Goudie just missed out on a place in the same event, swimming the ninth fastest time of 23.28secs.
