McMillan, Jack earn swimming world championship qualification

It proved a breakthrough night for Andrew McMillan and Michael Jack who earned places on the team for the world championships at the New Zealand Open Swim Championships in Christchurch tonight.

McMillan (North Shore) out-touched Jack (West Auckland Aquatics) to win the 200m freestyle with both swimmers going under the qualifying time for July’s FINA World Championships in Rome.

It brought the number of world championship qualifiers to five in nine swims after Corney Swanepoel and Glenn Snyders added to their schedule for Rome after beating the marks in the 50m butterfly and 50m breaststroke respectively at the QE II Leisure Centre.

The real drama came in the 200m freestyle after McMillan and Jack had seriously considered giving swimming away when both missed out on the Beijing Olympics.

They decided to try once more with McMillan winning tonight in 1:48.35 and Jack only 2/100ths of a second behind with both nearly half a second under the qualifying time.

“I am a bit lost for words,” McMillan, 23, said. “I was going to give things away after missing out on Beijing. But after a long chat and lots of encouragement from my coach Scott Talbot I decided to give things another go.

“This is fantastic. I am so rapt for myself and for Michael because we really pushed each other. “

Jack, 24, said he needed some real motivation after also missing out on the Olympics.

“I thought about giving it away but then decided that it was not the way I wanted to leave the sport so I re-evaluated and have worked really hard.

“I have been racing Andrew for more than 10 years now – sometimes he wins and sometimes I do. But tonight it was all about pushing each other to that time. Maybe we can continue to push on now. I am so thrilled.”

Earlier in the day Jack had gone under the qualifying time in the heats.

“I wanted to go out fast this morning and get under that time. It gave me a lot of confidence for tonight. I went out fast tonight in the final and paid for it a bit in the last bit.”

It is the first time McMillan has made a team for the world championships while Jack was in the 2005 team to Montreal.

Snyders, 21, made it a clean sweep in winning the 50m breaststroke and qualify for the worlds along with the 100m and 200m.

He was in a class of his own winning in 28.10s from clubmate Nicholas Ferrif and Starn Simpson (West Auckland Aquatics), after breaking the New Zealand record in the morning heats in 27.91s.

“I would have liked to have gone faster again tonight. But I am really pleased with my form here to qualify for all three breaststroke events which was my aim coming in here. Now comes the hard work as I prepare for Rome.”

Swanepoel also broke the national record in the morning heat of the 50m butterfly in 23.46, winning the final in 23.70 ahead of Daniel Bell (West Auckland).

“I have not really done any 50m butterfly racing for more than a year as I concentrated on the 100m for Beijing so that was encouraging. And it’s good to have a second race in Rome. I am really encouraged by my form this week.”

It was close but no cigar in the women’s 200m freestyle where Olympic backstroker Melissa Ingram edged out talented North Shore teenager Penelope Marshall to win in 2:00.24, which was 13/100ths outside the national record and 3/10ths off the world championship qualifying time.

Former world record-holder Zoe baker held off fellow Cantabrian Annabelle Carey to win the women’s 50m breaststroke, while the 200m individual medley titles went to two 19-year-old prospects, Natalie Wiegersma (Waverley, Southland) and John Gatfield (SwimZone, Wellington).

Beijing Olympian Hayley Palmer took out the women’s 50m butterfly from North Shore clubmate Emily Thomas and Wellington’s Samantha Lee (Capital).

The championships continue until Sunday.