MANCHESTER -- Ian Thorpe began his quest for a record seven Commonwealth Games titles by cruising into the final of the 400 meters freestyle with the fastest time of the heats in the opening session of the swimming on Tuesday.

The world and Olympic champion had no need to exert himself and allowed fellow Australian Craig Stevens to accompany him for the first half of the race before he loped effortlessly away to win in three minutes 47.24 seconds.

"I was really happy with that. All I wanted to do was keep it even all the way through the race and hopefully that's a good indicator for tonight," said Thorpe who was due to contest the final later in the day (1841 GMT), Reuters reported.

The Australian teenager, the most high-profile figure at the games, has not been beaten in a long-course 400 since he became the youngest male world champion at the age of 15 in 1998.

Teammate Grant Hackett, reigning world and Olympic 1500 meters freestyle champion, won the preceding heat in 3:49.13, also leaving plenty to spare for his keenly-awaited duel with Thorpe in the final.