BEIJING - Liu Zige isn't at the top of her game.

That's probably a good thing.

Liu finished fourth in the women's 100 meter butterfly at the FINA Swimming World Cup at the Water Cube on Tuesday, saying she's still not in peak form despite a two-month tune-up in the United States.

"My training still needs to improve somehow - I feel I am not in my best shape," Liu said.

Swedish veteran Therese Alshammar won the race in 55.76 seconds while China's Lu Ying and Jiao Liuyang were second and third, respectively.

Liu (pictrured), the 200m butterfly gold medalist at the 2008 Olympics, flew to the US for eight weeks of training after a disappointing Shanghai World Championships in July, when she settled for a bronze medal in the 200m butterfly.

"I didn't swim as well as expected in Shanghai. So, I just took this race as a test of the effects of my US training and will try to figure out what I should enhance in my training," the 22-year-old said.

Jiao, China's top 200m butterfly swimmer after winning the event in Shanghai, is considering adjusting her technique to develop a more powerful mid-range stoke.

"Yeah, I've been working on that," Jiao said. "But this time, I didn't use the new stroke because I am not able to handle it well in a race yet. Probably, I will improve it at the Australian camp this winter."

Jiao finished second to Liu at the 2008 Beijing Games.

The meet's female butterfly field also featured some veterans on the comeback trail, including Australian three-time Olympic champion Libby Trickett.

After a nine-month break, Trickett - winner of the 100m butterfly at the 2007 World Championships and 2008 Olympics - announced her return last September. She hopes to qualify for next year's Olympics, which would be her third.

The road back could prove challenging as the 26-year-old finished seventh on Tuesday night.

"Of course it's not my best, but I got a higher position than in Singapore - it's good. It's tough racing at the moment for me. I'm just getting used to everything in racing again. I think I've done pretty good tonight," Trickett said.

China Daily