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Two veterans of the pool, Zoe Baker and Dean Kent showed the way on the opening night of the Absolute Insurance world championship trials in Auckland tonight.

Baker, 30 and Kent, 28 both qualified for the Melbourne world championships in racing at the West Wave Aquatic Centre, Waitakere City.

Baker showed she was in outstanding form to clock 31.37 which was 2/10ths of a second inside the qualifying time in the 50m breaststroke.

The former world recordholder swam faster than the qualifying time in a meet in the Netherlands last weekend and said the pressure was off tonight.

“I knew with the qualifying performance under my belt I could relax and have fun,” Baker said.

“I would certainly like to go faster tomorrow in the final and I think I can.”

Kent clocked 4:20.31 to win his eighth straight 400m individual medley title showing he is in a class of his own to finish 11 seconds ahead of second placed Daniel Ryan.

While Kent was pleased to qualify for Melbourne he was disappointed with his time after returning from a 10-week stint training on the Gold Coast with the British team.

“My taper was only a week while it was three weeks for the Commonwealth Games,” Kent said. “I would have liked to have gone faster but probably went out a bit hard in the backstroke.

“I know I have time now to get things right for Melbourne.”

They were the only two qualifiers tonight although Corney Swanepoel and Hannah McLean went close in semifinal action.

Swanepoel was only 11/100ths of a second outside the qualifying mark in the 100m butterfly. He showed that he was back in top form to best the qualifiers for the 100m butterfly final clocking 53.65 to outlast North Shore clubmate and Commonwealth Games bronze medalist in the event Burmester.

McLean was only 2/100ths of a second outside the mark for Melbourne in the semifinal of the 100m backstroke.

She turned in 30.64s and clocked a useful 1:02.51 to hold off clubmate Melissa Ingram with both looking to go under the qualifying time in the final tomorrow night.

North Shore’s Glenn Snyders claimed the 200m breaststroke title and was just a shade outside the national record held by North Shore clubmate Kent. Snyders outclassed all opposition to clock a personal best 2:16.05, the second fastest time recorded ever in New Zealand.

Michael Jack (West Auckland Aquatics) upset fellow New Zealand representatives Andrew McMillan (Neptune) and Burmester to claim his first 200m national title. He won in 1:53.83, 3/10ths of a second ahead of McMillan with Burmester disappointed to finish third a touch behind.

Cara Baker, 16, showed her potential to take over the shoes of the outstanding Helen Norfolk in winning the 400m individual medley, clocking 4:56.87 to hold off Capital’s Tash Hind in a tight battle.

England-based Cameron Gibson (North Shore) outclassed his rivals to top qualifiers for the 100m backstroke in a slick 56.55, one second outside the qualifying mark for Melbourne.

Former Zimbabwe swimmer Samantha Richter (North Shore) and Commonwealth Games representative Georgina Toomey (Jasi) topped qualifiers in the semifinal of the 50m butterfly, both clocking 28.94 to set up an intriguing final.

Results to follow. Full results www.swimmingnz.org.nz