Fina World Swimming Championships day 3 heats

Commonwealth Games gold medallist Moss Burmester eased his way into the semifinals of the 200m butterfly on the third morning of heats at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Rome today.

He followed fellow International Training Centre swimmer Corney Swanepoel as the second kiwi to qualify for the semifinals at the Foro Italico this morning (local time).

Burmester, fourth at Beijing, clocked s steady 1:56.03, similar to his Olympic heat time, to record the 11th fastest time to progress to tonight’s semifinals (local time).

He went out solidly in 25.98 and then held an even pacing with laps of 29.85, 30.06 and 30.65 in a controlled effort to set himself for tonight’s critical semifinal.

“That was the plan for Moss. He was right on the plan that his coach Thomas Ansorg set him. There was never a fear of not qualifying and he is set to go a lot quicker tonight,” head coach Jan Cameron said.

Beijing finalist Pawel Korzeniowski was the fastest qualifier in 1:54.33 ahead of the gold medallist and world record holder Michael Phelps.

Earlier a New Zealand record was not quite enough for Glenn Snyders to qualify for the semifinals in the 50m breaststroke.

The International Training Centre swimmer, coached by Ansorg, took 2/10ths of a second off his own national record set in the trials, bringing the mark down to 27.72.

It was the 28th fastest time from the 154 swimmers who qualified for the championships with Snyders 3/10ths of a second off the final qualifying spot.

“That has given me some confidence to get a good swim under my belt,” Snyders said. “I was upset after the 100m and now this shows I have the speed and I am excited looking forward to the 200m, and I have another chance to get the 100m right in the medley relay.”

World record holder Cameron van der Bergh was the only swimmer under the 27 second mark with the next 38 fastest swimmers within a second. Snyders recorded the fourth fastest time from Commonwealth swimmers.

He will now set himself for the 200m breaststroke, hoping to repeat his performance from Beijing where he was a semifinalist.

New Zealand results, day 3 heats:
50m breaststroke: Glenn Snyders 27.73, 28th.
200m butterfly: Moss Burmester 1:56.03, 11th.