Kiwi swimmers take on the best across the Tasman

New Zealand’s leading swimmers take on some of Australia’s best in the NSW Championships in Sydney this weekend.

There’s no cotton-wool approach from the New Zealand coaches with the swimmers all in heavy work in preparation for April’s all-important Commonwealth Games trials.

The three-day meet offers another important opportunity for the kiwi contingent to race under pressure against top competition according to Swimming New Zealand’s Jan Cameron.

“There won’t be any let up for this meet but it will give them an indication of their progress with seven weeks until the Commonwealth Games trials and it’s an excellent chance to hone their racing techniques under pressure.”

Their Australian opposition will be already into their speed training phase with their trials taking place in three weeks.

“That will provide an important challenge mentally for our swimmers against opposition who are more advanced in their campaigns.”

It is the first competition for the Swimming New Zealand High Performance squad under new head coach Mark Regan who has been working closely with leading coaches Thomas Ansorg and Scott Talbot.

It will be the squad’s first competition in the new regulation racing suits with the regulations coming into force last month.

The three-day meet starts on Friday at Sydney’s Olympic venue, with heats in the morning where the fastest 10 swimmers will progress to the evening finals, with no restriction on qualifiers from outside of New South Wales.

There are 41 New Zealanders competing including the Swimming High Performance squad and other swimmers from Auckland, Wellington, Otago and Southland.

The New Zealanders competing in Sydney are:

Auckland: Hayley Palmer, Andrew McMillan, Shaun Burnett, Daniel Bell, Emily Thomas, Penelope Marshall, Jessie Blundell, Melissa Ingram, Matt Stanley, Chloe Francis, Kane Radford, Cameron Stanley, William Benson, Moss Burmester, Corney Swanepoel, Glenn Snyders, Ameka Gessler, Natasha Hind, Samantha Richter, Matt Thomas, Carl O'Donnell, Michael Jack, Jessie Glew, Grace Francis, Bianca Rowley, Danielle Koni, Brett Newell.

Wellington: Gareth Kean, Samantha Lee, Matt Woodrow, Shane Patience, Jon Gatfield.

Southland: Adam McDonald, Richard Harris, Lisa Pankhurst, Michael Finlay, Natalie Wiegersma.

Otago: Rachel Hare, Pheobe Williams, Rhys Applegarth, Braeden Doyle.