Australian teenager Mack Horton can win Rio gold: Grant Hackett

Melbourne: Australian swimming great Grant Hackett believes his country has unearthed its next Olympic 1,500 metres freestyle champion in 18-year-old Mack Horton.

Horton confirmed his status as Australia`s new long-distance king with an easy win in the 1500 final at the national championships on Friday.

Horton cruised to victory in 14 minutes 44.09 seconds, the fastest time in the world this year and the quickest ever by an 18-year-old, blowing away Hackett`s previous age record.

Hackett, who won successive 1,500 golds at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and Athens in 2004, has been watching Horton`s progress and feels the teenager can make a splash in Rio de Janeiro next year and set new world records.

"I always said Mack is the real deal," Hackett told local media. "Not to put too much pressure on him, but he can win that (2016 Rio Olympics) race."

Hackett, who also won a silver at the 2008 Beijing Games, held the world record for 10 years before it was eclipsed by China`s Sun Yang at the 2011 world championships in Shanghai.

Sun raised the bar to 14 minutes 31.02 seconds at the London Olympics where he won gold.

Horton is likely to clash with Sun at the world championships in Kazan as the Chinese bids to defend his title after serving a controversial three-month ban for a doping offence that was kept under wraps by his country`s authorities.

"I like seeing them (records) go down," said Hackett, who succeeded two-time Olympic champion Kieran Perkins as Australia`s top 1,500 swimmer.

"I would like to see (Horton) go faster than 14:34.

"He can swim 14:30 if he wants to -- he`s just got to put it together."

Hackett also impressed at the national championships, clinching a berth on the 200m freestyle team for Kazan at the age of 34, only six months after announcing his return to the pool and a year after a highly-publicised battle to beat an addiction to a prescription sleeping drug.

He will be able to give Horton valuable tips as the pair prepare for Kazan.

"He is someone I have always looked up to -- it`s pretty surreal," Horton said of Hackett.

"There`s a bit of pressure but he is here to help out."