Swanepoel, Stanley best of Kiwis in Oceania champs

The Australians sounded a warning in heats on the third morning of heats at the Oceania Swim Championships in Christchurch today.

Australians topped qualifiers in four of the six individual events on the programme this morning at the QEII Leisure Centre.

Beijing Olympian and defending champion Corney Swanepoel topped qualifiers in his favoured 100m butterfly heats, while his team-mate Moss Burmester, still struggling with illness, was pushed out of the A final by compatriot Daniel Bell.

North Shore’s Cameron Stanley produced a superb 2:01.96 to lead qualifiers in the 200m backstroke ahead of clubmate John Zulch.

Leading the Australians in heats today was James Stacey who edged out kiwi Glenn Snyders in the 50m breaststroke, Morgan-Lee Barnes pipped Olympian Lauren Boyle for top spot in the 400m freestyle, while the outstanding visitor Robert Hurley was fastest in the men’s 400m freestyle. Jessica Ash led an Australian trifecta in qualifying for the 100m butterfly.

There is a further session of the synchronised swimming this afternoon for the technical duet while tonight’s swimming finals start at 6.30pm with a focus on the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay where the New Zealand team is looking to improve their qualifying time for the Beijing Olympics.
 

6th June 2008

Oceania Swimming Championships – Day 2 Wrap

Despite a further six championship records, it was a swimmer in a B final who grabbed the limelight on the second night of finals at the Oceania Championships in Christchurch tonight.

New Zealand won six of the 10 finals tonight with championship records set by kiwis Liz Coster, Hayley Palmer, Helen Norfolk and the women’s freestyle relay teams, while the Australian men’s freestyle relay and Robert Hurley also secured championship times.

However the attention went on young kiwi William Benson from the North Shore club.

Benson, a member of the New Zealand men’s freestyle relay team, swum under the required FINA B time to ensure the team will qualify for the Beijing Olympics based on current world performances. The final deadline for qualifying is June 30.

With 12 countries already qualified for the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, New Zealand’s qualifying time set at the Olympic trials currently ranks them fourth fastest of non-qualifiers and in the final spot for Beijing. However Benson was the only member of the quartet who had not achieved the stipulated FINA B individual time of 55.95, missing out by 2/100ths of a second at the Olympic trials and 4/100ths of a second in heats this morning.

He only earned a start in the B final after his relay team-mate Orinoco Faamausili-Banse unselfishly withdrew. This time Benson made no mistake, turning in 24.24 and powering home in 50.26s to a hero’s welcome.

“Since the start of the year I have gone within 0.1 of a second on 10 or 12 times,” Benson said. “I knew I had the potential to get well under it but that barrier was there. So to crack it and go well under it was amazing.

“There was no pressure from anyone else, just the pressure that I put on myself. So I tried not to think about the result but focus on the processes. And I got the result I wanted.

“I am pretty confident we can better that time we set in March and hopefully lock us in.”

Benson was able to wear one of the new Arena speedsuits, cleared by the world body FINA this week, and jetted in yesterday by Swimming New Zealand to give the North Shore swimmer the best possible chance of the qualifying time.

The quartet of Herring, Gibson, Faamausili-Banse and Benson will have a further chance to lower their Olympic qualifying time tomorrow in the freestyle relay.

Coster completed a record meet, retaining her Oceania title and breaking the championship record in the 50m backstroke for a second time today. The Beijing Olympian clocked 28.89s which was only 16/100ths of a second outside her New Zealand open mark.

“I am happy with that especially at this stage of the season. But given how easy it felt this morning to go pretty much the same time with more effort was a bit disappointing.

“I can’t complain though. It is really encouraging to be where I am right now. It builds confidence to know I can do this in work and builds a platform to go on from here.

“It’s the best I have felt for ages. Technically it is good and I am really happy with the programme. It’s pretty exciting moving forward.”

With her Olympic programme completed here, Coster will also swim the 100m butterfly, where she is the New Zealand record-holder.

Palmer took out the women’s 100m freestyle title in 55.55, exactly the same time as her Oceania Championship record set this morning. It was less than 3/10ths outside her New Zealand open record.

New Zealand’s most experienced swimmer, Helen Norfolk was typically tough and impressive in her record swim in the gruelling 400m individual medley.

Norfolk was in a class of her own, winning in 4:47.32, beating the championship record that has stood for eight years.

Herring took out the 100m freestyle ahead of compatriot Cameron Gibson although fractionally slower than his championship record set this morning of 49.83s.

The women’s Beijing quartet of Norfolk, Lauren Boyle, Palmer and Tash Hind impressed with a championship record in the 4x200m freestyle relay, with teenage Hind from Wellington powering home to cement the final comfortable win over Australia.

Australia’s Robert Hurley added a third win and third championship record when he took out the 50m backstroke title in 25.64, edging out New Zealand’s Daniel Bell who had broken the record in the morning and went faster again tonight.

Bell, who will swim the medley relay at Beijing, was less than 2/10ths of a second outside his national record and an impressive effort after his disappointing swim in the 100m backstroke where he failed to make either the A or B final.

The Australian men’s team grabbed the championship record in the final event of the evening, the 4x200m freestyle record in 7:25.63 from New Zealand.

The championship continues until Sunday.