Australia's Thorpe back in training

SINGAPORE, Oct 10 (Reuters) Australia's five-times Olympic champion Ian Thorpe is back in training just 24 hours after returning from a three-month spell in Los Angeles.

The 23-year-old reunited with coach Tracey Menzies at a training session in Sydney yesterday, helping quash speculation he was no longer committed to the sport.

Thorpe had said in August that he was considering quitting the sport on a daily basis and that he was a few kilograms overweight.

The swimmer is now planning on competing at March's world championships in Melbourne -- his first major meet since the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Menzies said she wasn't sure when Thorpe would be competing in the lead up to the trials for the worlds from December 3-10.

''We've got world championship trials in December so he'll have to turn up and race at that for his eligibility for the world championships,'' she told Sydney radio station 2KY yesterday.

''He'll have to do a few meets before then just to get some times under his belt for qualification.'' REUTERS DH RAI0736