Swimming: Hosts determined to question the invincibility of Thorpe

Ian Thorpe, the breaker of 17 world records in four years, will expect to leave the Aquatics Centre tonight with two gold medals around his neck, although the message coming out of the England camp is that the teenage star is not immortal and Australia should expect some surprises.

"Thorpe is only human – the things that happen to us can happen to him," were the words of the England head coach Ian Turner, who will lead a 45-strong team in the swimming events which begin today.

"Australia are the current world champions and we're well aware of the scale of the task in hand," said Turner, who has remained tight-lipped about the host nation's prospects up until now. "They're some opposition, but there are a lot of events where England can be successful. We can't hope to match the Australians but swimming in this country is on the way up.

"We'll be very hard to beat and we'll have some surprises in store," he added.

Britain's lowly standing in world swimming was exacerbated by a disastrous Sydney Olympics, their only medal-free Games since Berlin in 1936. Following Sydney the sport has been hauled over the coals with a major shake-up initiated by Britain's national performance director Bill Sweetenham, the former Australian Olympic coach who was appointed to bring British swimming in line with their overseas counterparts.

But even Sweetenham's rhetoric has been guarded. He recently said that Australia should expect to win every gold medal in the pool, although the form book suggests the Games here in Manchester could represent one of England's greatest chances of success on the world stage.

England top the Commonwealth rankings in eight events this year, although they are citing just five gold medals as their target, enough to match their haul from Kuala Lumpur four years ago. Talking up their chances are Canada, who say they are looking to leave Manchester with 10 gold medals this week.

Five titles will be decided later today, with England's Karen Pickering eager to take her 11th Commonwealth medal in the 200 metres freestyle as she competes in her fourth Games, while Zoë Baker will launch her assault on the 50m breaststroke world record in tonight's semi finals.

Manchester-born James Hickman defends his 200m butterfly title although he should expect a rough ride, with team-mate Stephen Parry and Australians Justin Norris and Heath Ramsay all vying for the gold.