No rest for New Zealands Olympic swimmers

There’s no rest for most of the New Zealand Olympic-bound swim team. Days after their successful Olympic trials, they have flown out to England to contest the FINA World Short Course Championships.

Ten of the 11-strong team for Beijing qualified for the world short course championships set for Manchester from 9-13 April, where they are also joined by the North Shore pair of Robert Voss and Andrew McMillan and former world record holder Zoe Baker (QE2).

National coach Jan Cameron said they believe the championships will prove beneficial for the team.

“Some of the Olympic competitors in other countries are not going to Manchester,” Cameron said.

“We think the championships will give them a break from their usual routine so when we return they can then get down to their Olympic preparation.

“Short course gives them very important opportunities to work on the key things like their starts and their turns.

“And it’s an opportunity to race against world class opposition. We don’t get many chances to compete internationally so this will be an important meet for our swimmers, who should still be in very good shape after peaking for our Olympic trials.”

They will be hoping to emulate the outstanding performances from the last world short course championships in China two years ago when they won two medals – a silver to Moss Burmester in the 200m butterfly and bronze to the now-retired Hannah McLean. The team also qualified for 17 finals and recorded 22 New Zealand records at the five-day championship, far exceeding any previous Kiwi performances. It compares with one medal and five finals in 2004 at Indianapolis and two finals to Dean Kent in 2002 at Moscow.

The championships will be held at the Manchester Entertainment Centre where they have used drop in pools.

The team is:

Zoe Baker (QE2, Chch), Daniel Bell (West Auckland Aquatics), Moss Burmester (North Shore), Liz Coster (North Shore), Dean Kent (North Shore), Corney Swanepoel (North Shore), Helen Norfolk (North Shore), Melissa Ingram (North Shore), Cameron Gibson (Bath University), Andrew McMillan (North Shore), Hayley Palmer (North Shore), Glenn Snyders (North Shore), Robert Voss (North Shore).

Head coach: Jan Cameron. Coaches: Thomas Ansorg, Donna Bouzaid.