Australian swimming's newest queen of the pool, Alicia Coutts, continued her great run by securing her first two national titles in Sydney on Saturday.

The five-time Delhi Commonwealth Games gold medallist beat triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice in both the 100m butterfly and 200m individual medley at the national swimming championships.

Coutts, who had never claimed an Australian long course title in her six previous meets, broke through with victory ahead of Rice and five-time world championship gold medallist Jessicah Schipper in the butterfly.

The 23-year-old's time of 57.25 seconds was the quickest of the year while Rice clocked a 58.18 to finish second after turning at the 50m mark in fifth place.

The Queenslander then backed up her effort to clock 2:10.06, a personal best, in the medley, holding off a strong-finishing Rice (2:10.41).

Coutts said it was important for her to prove her Delhi gold rush was no flash in the pan.

"It was definitely important for me to swim well," she told reporters.

"Obviously a lot of people are expecting more from me this time around at nationals than ever before. Having five Commonwealth Games gold medals, you've got to step up with that.

"I definitely think I've done that."

Rice, making her return to the pool following shoulder surgery, said she was just happy to have secured a spot in Australia's team for July's world championships in China.

And she believes losing some of the spotlight she's lived under since the Beijing Olympics with Coutts' rise isn't necessarily a bad thing.

"It's always nice to be the underdog and I think that's the way I've got to look at it," the 22-year-old said.

"It's great, that's sort of how I went into the 2008 year, just enjoying what I was doing and just going in there feeling like I could do the best I could."

Rice said she would relinquish her world championship berth in the 100m butterfly to Schipper after securing a spot with her medley swim.

Others to book a passage to Shanghai were Brenton Rickard and Christian Sprenger after the rivals finished one-two in the men's 100m breaststroke.

The championships run until April 8.

Ed Jackson
AAP