Bell swims to Gold in Junior Pan Pacs Opener

West Auckland swimmer Daniel Bell was the toast of the New Zealand team after winning gold on the opening night of finals at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Guam tonight.

The 18 year old, who won multiple titles at last year’s world youth championships, took out the 100m backstroke title in emphatic fashion tonight, with Wellington team-mate Gareth Kean finishing fourth.

North Shore’s Shaun Burnett, Taranaki’s Dylan Dunlop-Barrett, Rotorua’s Kane Radford and Dunedin’s Phoebe Williams were the other New Zealanders who made A finals in the outdoor pool in Guam.

Burnett, 18, was sixth in the 200m butterfly in 2:01.41 after going slightly faster in his heat with a personal best.

Barrett, 17 was fifth and Radford, 18 sixth in the 1500m freestyle with the Taranaki swimmer clocking a slick 15:39.42, only half a second outside the national age group record. Radford was sixth in 15:43.47.

Williams (Waves, Dunedin) was eighth fastest in the women’s 800m freestyle in 9:08.70.

The eyes were on Bell, the top qualifier, who cruised through his heat in second fastest clocking 56.17s. He dominated the final, winning by nearly a second in 55.11, which was half a second outside his New Zealand Open record.

Kean, 17, was third fastest in qualifying in a personal best 56.38s, but he could not go faster in the final and was pipped for a medal by Japan’s Takahiro Yamazaki by 1/10th of a second.

Ashburton’s Elizabeth Brown set a national age group record for 15 years in the 200m butterfly clocking 2:16.92 in her heat and then going more than half a second faster finishing fourth in the B final.

A further eight swimmers made B finals with the best of them the talented 15-year-old North Shore swimmer Chloe Francis, who finished fourth in the B final of the 200m freestyle in 2:03.97, only 27/100ths outside the long standing age group record held the great Rebecca Perrot.

Day 1 New Zealand finals results:

A finals:
100m backstroke: Daniel Bell (NZL) 55.11, 1; Patrick Murphy (USA) 55.90, 2; Takahiro Yamazaki (JPN) 56.66, 3; Gareth Kean (NZL) 56.75, 4.
200m butterfly: Shaun Burnett 2:01.41, 6.
1500m freestyle: Dylan Dunlop-Barrett 15:39.42, 5; Kane Radford 15:43.47, 6.
800m freestyle: Phoebe Williams 9:08.70, 8.

B finals:
200m freestyle, male: Mitchell Donaldson 1:54.04, 5.
200m freestyle, female: Chloe Francis 2:03.97, 4; Amaka Gessler 2:04.74, 5; Ellen Quirke 2:06.93, 6.
200m butterfly, female: Elizabeth Brown 2:16.26, 4 (NZ Age Record); Samantha Lee 2:17.89, 8.
200m butterfly, male: Cameron Burrows 2:01.38, 2.
1500m freestyle: Shane Patience 16:00.35, 4.