Absolute Insurance Short Course Swim Championships – day 2 heats

Thirteen was not unlucky for Waitakere City teenager Daniel Bell.

The 17-year-old Bell became the 13th swimmer to go under the qualifying mark for the world championships on the second night of heats at the Absolute Insurance Short Course Swim Championships at Waitakere tonight.

Bell swam a superb 1:55.95, which was 1/100th of a second inside the qualifying mark for the world championships to be held in Manchester in April next year.

This was more than a second inside his own age group record and only 1/10th of a second outside Scott Talbot-Cameron’s New Zealand Open record.

Olympian Glenn Snyders set a New Zealand record in going under the qualifying mark in the 100m breaststroke, to add to the qualifying time he set in the 50m breaststroke on the first night.

Snyders topped the heats with a strong 59.82, to go under the one minute mark for the first time and inside Paul Kent’s 12-year-old national mark.

Twenty-year-old William Benson edged out his illustrious North Shore club mates Corney Swanepoel and Moss Burmester to top qualifiers in the heats of the 50m butterfly just 16/100th of a second outside the world championship qualifying mark.

Top qualifiers for tomorrow’s second morning of finals included Joyce Wiegersma (Southland) in the 400m freestyle, Samantha Richter (North Shore) in the 100m butterfly, Liz Coster (North Shore) in the 100m backstroke, Andrew McMillan (North Shore) in the 200m freestyle, Kelly Bentley (Capital) in the 200m breaststroke, Hayley Palmer (North Shore) in the 50m freestyle and 100m medley and Dean Kent in the 200m medley.

The championships is running under the same format to be used at next year’s Beijing Olympics, with the heats in the evening and finals each morning.