Thorpe returned to competition at the New South Wales Championships in December 2005. He raced in the 200 m and stated his intention to retire after the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Thorpe announced that due to a desire to concentrate on the 100 m freestyle, he had dropped his pet event, the 400 m. He was unmoved by national coach Alan Thompson, who implored him to continue swimming the event. In February, Thorpe qualified for the 2006 Commonwealth Games by winning the 100 m and 200 m freestyle in times of 49.24 s and 1 min 46.42 s respectively. He expressed disappointment with his performances; he speculated that he may have misjudged his new training schedule and anticipated further improvement.