Moments after denying Cameron McEvoy a historic national triple crown, James Magnussen claimed he was on track to pull off his own record-breaking "three-peat" at the 2015 world swimming titles.
World champion Magnussen clocked 21.98 seconds to claim 50m freestyle gold on Thursday night to notch his first national title at the meet and finally turn the tables on McEvoy (22.03).
Fastest qualifier McEvoy was poised to become the first Australian swimmer to claim the 50m, 100m and 200m gold at the same national titles.
But Magnussen was not to be denied, providing a confidence boost before his own crack at history at July's world titles in Kazan, Russia.
He might not have been able to deny McEvoy in the national two-lap race this week in Sydney, but Magnussen is now backing himself to become the first to win three straight 100m freestyle world titles.
"It's something that keeps me motivated because pretty much everything has been done in 100m freestyle," Magnussen said.
"So it's a pretty special legacy type (achievement), to show I have been able to stay on top of the world for a number of years."
His claim would have raised eyebrows with some after Magnussen fell well short of his best in the national 100m final.
It was not a good look after Magnussen's controversial decision to ditch the man who had led him to two world titles - Brant Best - and opt for unknown mentors Mitch and Lach Falvey in the off-season.
"Even though I lost the 100m, it didn't really knock my confidence," said Magnussen who had lost to McEvoy in the past two national 100m finals.
"It is still only early stages.
"I am pretty confident this is the team I need to get the three-peat."
McEvoy, 20, was unaware history beckoned on Thursday night.
"I had assumed someone like Klimmy (Michael Klim) had done it but I didn't really do much fact searching," he said.
"It would be pretty cool. But I will give it a crack next year - I can still take a lot of confidence out of this competition."
Meanwhile, Emily Seebohm (2:06.69) went close to her Commonwealth record (2:06.06) to claim 200m backstroke gold in the world's fastest time of 2015.
In other results, Brittany Elmslie (26.07) claimed 50m butterfly gold, Tommaso D'Orsogna (51.92) upset Jayden Hadler (51.96) in the 100m butterfly final and Jessica Ashwood (8:26.09) won the 800m freestyle.
Cate Campbell (24.19) again pipped sister Bronte (24.41) to set the benchmark before Friday night's 50m freestyle final.
Fastest qualifiers for the other Friday night finals are Sally Hunter (50m breaststroke) and Ben Treffers (50m backstroke).
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