A healthy Grant Hackett savoured life without nemesis Ian Thorpe by powering to victory in the 400m freestyle at the world championship trials in Sydney.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist produced a slick time of 3 minutes 44.44 seconds to confirm himself as the hot favourite in the 400m at July's world championships in Montreal.

"That was right up there with the Olympic final time, I am happy with that," Hackett said.

"I just wanted to come here and be in a good position for the world championships.

"That was faster than what I did at world championship trials four years ago and then I swam my best (time of 3:42.51s in Japan)."

Hackett's time was just a second outside the time which won him the silver medal behind Thorpe at last year's Athens Olympics.

The lanky Queenslander romped home in the absence of Thorpe, who is enjoying a year out of competitive swimming.

"I want to win I am not going to lie or beat around the bush," he said of the meet in Canada.

"To be honest I want to get up there and every other time I wanted to win too, this is certainly not a different attitude.

"I look forward to focusing on my own racing up there and focusing on what I can do and I would love to do a PB and to get down to (three minutes) 40 or 41 this year would be nice.

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP