About us

New Zealand’s most respected swimmers Helen Norfolk (pictured) and Dean Kent saved their best for last on the final night of the Oceania Championships in Christchurch.

The pair, who will become New Zealand’s first swimmers to compete in three Olympics in Beijing, both took out their favoured 200m individual medley finals and both set championship records close to their personal bests.

While neither is looking past the Beijing Olympics at this stage, it may be the final time that they compete in a major meet in this country.

They led New Zealand to a strong final night with six wins, with a further seven championship records established overall at the QEII Leisure Centre. The New Zealand wins went to Kent, Norfolk and their Beijing team-mates Lauren Boyle in the 800m freestyle and Glenn Snyders in the 200m breaststroke.

The other wins went to Mark Herring and William Benson who dead-heated to win a gold medal each in the 50m freestyle and the men’s 4x100m medley relay.

Australia had wins to Rebecca Ohlwein in the 50m freestyle Jessica Legge in the 200m breaststroke and the women’s medley relay.

This gave New Zealand 20 wins to 17 by Australia overall.

New Zealand’s Liz Coster was awarded the female swimmer of the championship for her 961 FINA points haul in winning the 100m backstroke while Commonwealth Games gold medallist Ryan Pini (Papua New Guinea) was the top male swimmer for the 100m butterfly victory that earned 966 points.

Kent produced a much more controlled performance from his morning heat to win in 2:02.21, less than two seconds outside his national record and a new Oceania Championship record.

He was ahead from the get-go, clearing out with an excellent breaststroke leg to finish clear of Australia’s Stephen Parkes and New Zealand’s John Gatfield.

“I was really happy with that. I had a rough heat and didn’t feel too good,” Kent said. “I analysed it with my coach Scott (Talbot-Cameron) and made a plan with a bit more control over the first 100 and attack from there.

“I’ve been working extremely hard on my breaststroke, getting it back to where it was and it felt really good tonight.

“It was less than a second slower that what I did to qualify for Beijing so I am happy with my progress. It was easily my fastest swim outside of a taper so it’s very encouraging.”

Kent said he was pleased to produce a top performance as he looks towards likely retirement after Beijing.

“To go out like that with a championship record, just like Helen did, is really cool. I wanted to show what I could do in front of a New Zealand crowd in my final swim at home. It always makes it special when you can do well and to hear that New Zealand anthem is pretty special.”

Norfolk was even more impressive, powering to the front from the start to win in a superb 2:14.74, only 7/10ths outside her own New Zealand record set in qualifying for Beijing.

The former Cantabrian, who said she is not looking past Beijing, was thrilled to produce a top performance in Christchurch, her home town where she swam for so many years.

“It’s so nice to swim well in my home town in front of my mum, my dad, my sister and my best friends here tonight. That’s the best thing,” Norfolk said.

“It was really good. I’ve been feeling more flat as the meet has gone on but I really wanted a good swim in that one and finish on a strong note. It hurt and it felt quite heavy but I am really happy with that time.

“I know that when I am fresh and tapered I can go a lot faster than that. I was thinking that if I did put it together properly that even though I didn’t feel that good, that I might be able to break that record. I came close.”

Boyle followed her win in the 400m freestyle with victory in the 800m tonight with a well constructed performance.

After going neck-and-neck with Australians Jacinta Powell and Morgan-Lee Barnes over the first half of the race, Boyle cleared out with an even split race to win in 8:44.06.

Benson, who had to endure a swim-off to gain a spot in the A final, then went on to dead-heat the final with New Zealand record-holder Mark Herring. The pair clocked 22.92, to establish a new championship record.

However it did not last long when compatriot Orinoco Faamausili-Banse, who missed out in the swim-off with Benson in the morning, won the B final in 22.86 to claim the new record.

Snyders was pushed to the limit by Australia’s James Stacey in the 200m breaststroke, out-touching his rival to win in the championship record time of 2:16.24.

The two countries fittingly split the final medley relay races – the kiwis taking the men and Australia the women to complete an impressive meet with 28 new championship records set from the 37 finals.