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Absolute Insurance Youth & Open Swim – Day 3 Finals

Absolute Insurance Youth & Open Swim – Day 3 Finals
5th April 2007

Cameron Gibson led a remarkable morning of sprinting to spark the second morning of finals at the Absolute Insurance Youth and Open Championships in Christchurch this morning.

World championship swimmers Gibson and Mark Herring continued where they left off last night in the preliminary finals of the men’s 50m freestyle at the QE2 Aquatic Centre.

 
Both went under the previous New Zealand record set initially by Gibson and broken by Herring in heats last night, and they went head-to-head in the preliminary final this morning.  Both went under the new record of 23.13s set by Gibson last night, with the 2m tall, English-based swimmer going under the 23 second mark for the first time.

 

Gibson, the transformed backstroker now based in the sprint programme in Bath, clocked 22.90 while Herring (West Auckland) also went under the previous record to clock 23.02.

 

They did not have all the limelight when brilliant 16-year-old prospect Orinoco Faamausili-Banse (Laser Mt Eden) also went under the 23-second barrier. The teenager clocked a superb 22.98 to win the age group final, and break the national age group mark by some distance.

 

This sets up a mouth-watering open final tomorrow morning when the three fastest freestylers in New Zealand swimming history go head-to-head in search of further records.

Young North Shore swimmer John Zulch won the all-important battle for the 100m backstroke title from top qualifier Kurt Bassett (Laser Mt Eden) and John Gatfield (Watties Swim City) with 2/10ths of a second separating the trio.

There will be real competition for a backstroke spot in the men’s medley relay team with Gibson’s desire to concentrate on freestyle possibly leading to the need for a new backstroker for Beijing and beyond.

World championship swimmers were to the fore with North Shore’s Liz Coster picking up two titles in the 50m butterfly and 100m backstroke.

Moss Burmester got up in the last lunge to pip North Shore clubmate Corney Swanepoel by 1/100th of a second in the final of the 100m butterfly, while Annabelle Carey won the 50m breaststroke after the withdrawal of Zoe Baker.

Manawatu teenager Cara Baker won her second open honour in the 800m freestyle.

The championships continue until Sunday.
Day 3 finals results:
100m backstroke: John Zulch (North Shore) 58.18, 1; Kurt Bassett (Laser Mt Eden) 58.20, 2; John Gatfield (Watties Swim City) 58.38, 3.
50m butterfly: Liz Coster (North Shore) 27.67, 1; Georgina Toomey (West Auckland) 28.34, 2; Samantha Richter (North Shore) 27.41, 3.
50m breaststroke: Annabelle Carey (Aquagym) 32.43, 1; Sarah Vettoretti (West Auckland) 33.68, 2; Annabelle Simpson (Queenstown) 34.10, 3.
100m butterfly: Moss Burmester (North Shore) 53.30, 1; Corney Swanepoel (North Shore) 53.31, 2; Jason Cohen (Australia) 55.88, 3.
100m backstroke: Liz Coster (North Shore) 1:03.32, 1; Melissa Ingram (North Shore) 1:03.94, 2; Emily Thomas (Comets) 1:04.54, 3.
800m freestyle: Cara Baker (Kiwi West) 8:52.81, 1; Kirsten Cameron (Capital) 9:06.00, 2; Joyce Wiegersma (Southland) 9:10.31, 3.

Full results: www.swimmingnz.org.nz

For further information: Ian Hepenstall, Sports Media NZ, Tel 0275 613181, E: ianhep@xtra.co.nz

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