Palmer among worlds best in record setting swim

North Shore’s Hayley Palmer became the first New Zealand woman under the 54 second barrier after a brilliant 100m freestyle on the fifth day of the FINA World Swimming Championships in Rome today.

Palmer, 19, smashed her own New Zealand record by nearly a second in the morning heat and then lowered it again under the 54 second mark to finish 11th fastest in the semifinals at the Foro Italico tonight (local time).

She clocked 54.10s in the morning heat which was three-quarters of a second under her previous New Zealand record set in the relays at the Beijing Olympics last year. Tonight she boldly went under that, reducing her record to 53.91 to be a touch away from making the final.

Palmer went into the event with the 43rd fastest time in the year and was rewarded with two bold performances, turning first in 25.44 which was under world record pace in the penultimate heat that included Olympic champion Libby Trickett (AUS). Tonight she again turned first in her semifinal against top qualifier Amanda Weir (USA) and was just pipped by former world record holder Dana Vollmer (USA) and European star Evelyn Verraszto (HUN) for the final spots in the final.

Her coach Scott Talbot believed she was capable of going under the magical 54-second barrier.

“Her rate of improvement has been excellent this year and tonight was the absolute best we could get. I was thrilled that she was able to get such a big PB this morning and back it up by going faster tonight under pressure,” Talbot said.

He said the pair had hatched an aggressive plan to take on the star-studded field with her semifinal including the three fastest women in the history of the sport.

“I’ve always known that Hayley could come back strongly and so we have been working on raw speed this year. So it’s no use having that speed and not using it. We are not here to play tiddlywinks so I wanted her to go out hard.”

Palmer again went through the 50m in the lead a fraction slower than her heat but she came home faster.

“It was a top performance and so close to making the final in her first world championships.”

Talbot said rather than rest on their laurels he is already planning the future.

“We’ve got less than a year to the Pan Pacs, 15 months to the Commonwealth Games and less than three years to London. I want to accelerate her times just as quickly as we can.

“I believe with just a few tweaks we can change her technique for the new suits next year and it will not make a difference to her times. It’s pretty exciting.”

He hopes they can return to Australia again in the future after the kiwi teenager spent some time training with Trickett and also look for more international racing ahead of the Pan Pacifics next year.

There was a further New Zealand record earlier in the day to Auckland’s Kurt Bassett, 19, who produced a strong performance in his first significant international meet, taking nearly half a second off his national mark set in the trials.

The Laser Mt Eden club swimmer, now coached by Thomas Ansorg at the International Training Centre, showed some of his undoubted potential to clock 1:58.46. He was less than half a second off qualifying for the semifinals.

Bassett clocked the 20th best time after going into the championships with the 38th fastest time this year.

Fellow ITC swimmer Glenn Snyders was outside his best clocking 2:14.02 in heats of the 200m breaststroke, although he was later disqualified.

In tomorrow’s action Corney Swanepoel and Moss Burmester compete in the 100m butterfly.

New Zealand results, day 2 heats:
100m freestyle: Hayley Palmer 54.10, 12th, NZ Record
200m backstroke: Kurt Bassett 1:58.46, 20th, NZ Record
200m breaststroke: Glenn Snyders 2:14.02, dsq.

Semifinal 1: Libby Trickett (AUS) 52.84, 1; Britta Steffen (GER) 52.87, 2; Fran Halsall (GBR) 53.05, 3.
Semifinal 2: Amanda Weir (USA) 53.02, 1; Ranomi Kromowidjojo (NED) 53.31, 2; Dana Vollmer (USA) 53.55, 3. Also Hayley Palmer 53.91, 6.