Indianapolis, IN (AHN) - Age means nothing to American swimmer Dara Torres.

The 40-year-old proved that yet again as she set an American record in 50-meter freestyle race at the U.S. Nationals on Saturday night.

Torres finished the meet with a time of 24.53 seconds, .10 seconds better than the previous record she set at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

The effort was good enough for Torres to win the 15th national title of her career.

Despite being in the sport for more than 25 years, Torres said she enjoys each win as much as she did when he was a youngster.

"It feels exactly the same," she said. "I was 14, I was bouncing off the walls. Now I'm a little more mature but I still have that same excited feeling when I touch the wall."

It should come as no surprise that Torres has not lost her winning spirit because she has always been a great ambassador for swimming.

She briefly retired from the sport so she could enjoy the birth of her first child.

Even though she had new responsibilities, she never ignored the sport she loved.

"I just got in shape swimming with my daughter and I started swimming a couple of meets and I swam real fast," she said. "A lot of master swimmers were encouraging me to swim, so I just decided to get back into it."

The 50-meter freestyle is the second event Torres has won at this year's U.S. Nationals. She won the 100-meter freestyle on Wednesday.

Her focus now is to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.

"I'm just going to take a couple of weeks off and hopefully get back in training and start training for the Olympic trials," she said.

If Torres make the U.S. Olympic team and wins an event, she would become the oldest Olympic swimming champ at the age of 41. Not that age means anything to her though.