Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe has missed out on a final place in the 100m freestyle at the seventh and final FINA World Cup 2011 meeting in Tokyo.

The 29-year-old finished 12th fastest in the heats with a time of 49.45 seconds to add to the failures in Beijing and Singapore last week.

However, his time in Tokyo was an improvement on the freestyle time he set in the Chinese capital.

Australia head coach Leigh Nugent told the Swimming Australia website: "Maybe he didn't think so much at what he had to do. He dropped nearly a second in his final 50m from Beijing.

"The time drop was a significant leap for Ian and that swim shows the sort of improvements that he can make."

'Thorpedo' won three gold medals at his home Olympics in Sydney eleven years ago, adding another two in Athens four years later.