Showdown looms in final night of Swim NZ Champs

There will be a showdown between the proven and the pretenders on the final night of the New Zealand Summer Swim Championships in Christchurch.

Five swimmers are within half a second of each other for the men’s 100m butterfly where Olympians Corney Swanepoel, the top qualifier, and Moss Burmester face strong challenges of North’s Shore’s Andrew McMillan, Matt Thomas and world junior champion Daniel Bell.

Only 8/10ths of a second separates all 10 finalists for the 50m freestyle where Mark Herring was the top qualifier, but faces a major challenge from his fellow Olympic relay sprinters Cameron Gibson and William Benson, along with Swanepoel and 200m national record holder Michael Jack.

The other major clashes tonight sees Annabelle Carey as top qualifier in the 50m breaststroke, Tash Hind topping heats of the 200m freestyle against the North Shore trio of Hayley Palmer, Penelope Marshall and Melissa Ingram, Natalie Wiegersma and Hind in the 200m individual medley and Australian Daniel Blackborrow against Cameron Stanley, John Zulch and Daniel Bell in the 100m backstroke final.

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12th December 2008

NZ Summer Championships – Day 2 Wrap

The records continued to tumble on the penultimate night of finals at the New Zealand Summer Championships in Christchurch tonight.

A further four national open records were set tonight, after three yesterday and two in this morning heats of the short course championships at the QE2 Leisure Centre.

Beijing Olympian Glenn Snyders led the way with a superb performance in winning the 100m breaststroke in 58.03s, the fifth fastest time in the world this year.

His North Shore club mate Cameron Stanley dipped under the 1:54 mark to better his own record in the 200m backstroke. West Auckland’s Michael Jack broke his own record with an impressive swim in the 200m freestyle, while Tash Hind, formerly of the Capital club but now under international squad coach Thomas Ansorg in Auckland, set a new mark in the 100m individual medley.

Snyders, 21, was delighted with his performance as he took 6/10ths of a second off his previous record, clocking 58.03. It earned him a massive 980 FINA points and he was doubly pleased to produce the time without tapering, and in a heavy training phase.

“I’m very pleased with that. My build up for this meet was a really constant endurance phase and it has gone very well. It showed up well tonight and I am pretty encouraged looking forward to our build-up towards the World Championship Trials,” Snyders said.

Jack, 23, turned heads when he eclipsed Danyon Loader’s long time record in the 200m freestyle at the recent FINA World Cup in Sydney. He went even faster tonight, clocking 1:44.89, which was 2/10ths off his previous mark. It pushed him into the top 20 times in the world this year.

“I’ve changed quite a bit about my training and really re-assed things after I had a poor Olympic Trials. My immediate aim is to qualify for the world championships and then on to the Commonwealth Games. The big goal is London 2012 and this is a step along the way,” Jack said.

Stanley, son of former Olympic rower and current NZOC selector Mike Stanley, said better speed at the start of his race paved the way for his success.

He produced a superbly paced effort in the 200m backstroke, storming home in 28 seconds for his final 50m to clock 1:53.87, after beating his record in the heats this morning.

“I really wanted to go faster tonight and get under that 1:54 barrier. It felt really good this morning but I knew I had to go out a bit faster,” Stanley said.

“I am aiming to make the team for the world champs and I know I will have to go a pretty good swim to make that, but I think this has shown I am on my way to getting there.”

Hind upset more fancied rivals to take out the 100m individual medley to clock 1:01;.65, taking half a second off the record held by Olympian Hayley Palmer who had to be content with third place.

Other winners tonight included Beijing Olympians Daniel Bell, who took out the 50m butterfly over Corney Swanepoel and the 200m individual medley.Melissa Ingram won the 400m freestyle.

Visiting Melbourne swimmers won the other finals with world record-holder Marieke Guehrer taking the 50m freestyle and 100m butterfly, Grace Loh in the 100m backstroke and Emma Pane in the 200m breaststroke.

The championships conclude tomorrow.