Absolute Insurance Youth & Open Swim – Day 6 Finals
8th April 2007
The burgeoning sprint talent and some tough performances from the stars were the main pluses at the Absolute Insurance Youth and Open Championships that finished in Christchurch this morning.
National records were broken several times in both 50m freestyle and butterfly heats and finals at the QE2 Pool this week.
New Zealand head coach Jan Cameron said it was encouraging to see the sprinters really competing strongly which augers well for the future.
She was also delighted with the efforts from the fatigued elite squad after their return from the world championships.
“They really stood up and performed. They swam tough and showed not only that they had real pride in their own performances but it was a great example to the young swimmers here,” Cameron said.
She said it was a useful experiment to test the swimmers on the new format to be used at the Beijing Olympics with heats in the evening and finals in the morning. “That’s something we will need to continue to work on, mostly in how we handle recovery and how swimmers adapt their pre-race routines to the morning,” Cameron said. However she would like to see a revamp of the Open Championships, perhaps going back to a simple morning heat and evening final.
“We’ve got to impress on all of our swimmers that they must learn to swim fast in the morning, and then go faster again. While there’s a heat, semifinal and final situation at major meets like the Olympics and world championships, the fact is if you don’t swim your best in the morning you don’t get another swim.
“I’d like to see more heat put on our young swimmers so they know there’s just one chance in the morning to make a final.”
Veteran freestyler Alison Fitch announced her retirement from competitive swimming after more than a decade at the top of the sport. She could not quite bow out on a winning note, finishing 6/100th of a second behind England-based Te Rina Taite in the final of the 50m freestyle.
Fitch was selected for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics as a 16 year old and after missing out on Sydney 2000, she moved Jan Cameron’s North Shore squad.
She qualified for the Barcelona World Championships in 2003 and has been an integral part of all New Zealand teams since including the Athens Olympics in 2004 and Melbourne Commonwealth Games last year where she guided the relay teams to a bronze in the 4x200m freestyle.
“One of the key things we had to do to establish ourselves in world swimming was to develop internationally competitive relay teams. Alison was the key member in the medley and freestyle relay squads as the anchor swimmer, the one we could always rely on,” coach Jan Cameron said. “Ali is a class act. She brings a joy and passion for the sport and she is always very informed and caring to help others in her team.”
Several of her North Shore clubmates were untroubled to claim titles on today including Liz Coster winning the 50m backstroke and 100m butterfly, Moss Burmester in the 200m butterfly and Helen Norfolk in the 200m freestyle.
There were also some fingertip finishes with England’s Commonwealth recordholder Darren Mews holding off the frantic challenge from North Shore’s Glenn Snyders by 1/100th of a second to win the 100m breaststroke.
Corney Swanepoel (North Shore) upset predictions to edge his world championship teammate Mark Herring (West Auckland Aquatics) by 1/100th of a second to win the 100m freestyle.
Napier’s Callum Joll impressed in holding off the youthful charge from John Zulch (North Shore) and Kurt Bassett (Laser Mt Eden) to win the 50m backstroke while Capital’s Kelly Bentley was too strong over the final 100m for Annabelle Carey (Aquagym) in the 200m breaststroke.
Dunedin’s Bryn Murphy dominated the 1500m freestyle finishing well clear of his Waves clubmate Shane Patience.
50m backstroke: Callum Joll (Napier Aquahawks) 26.55, 1; John Zulch (North Shore) 26.99, 2; Kurt Bassett (Laser Mt Eden) 27.25, 3.
100m butterfly: Liz Coster (North Shore) 1:01.73, 1; Natalie Wiegersma (Southland) 1:02.56, 2; Emma Banks (North Shore) 1:03.82, 3.
100m breaststroke: Darren Mew (England) 1:02.64, 1; Glenn Snyders (North Shore) 1:02.65, 2; Dean Kent (North Shore) 1:05.19, 3.
1500m freestyle: Bryn Murphy (Waves) 15:42.03, 1; Shane Patience (Waves) 15:59.00, 2; Matt Woodrow (Watties Swim City) 16:09.24, 3.
50m backstroke: Liz Coster 29.73, 1; Melissa Ingram (North Shore) 29.88, 2; Emily Thomas (Comet) 30.03, 3.
200m breaststroke: Kelly Bentley (Capital) 2:35.54, 1; Annabelle Carey (Aquagym) 2:37.59, 2; Chelsea Carpenter (Australia) 2:37.97, 3.
200m butterfly: Moss Burmester (North Shore) 1:57.81, 1; Dean Kent 2:02.03, 2; Andrew McMillan (Neptune) 2:02.24, 3.
200m freestyle: Helen Norfolk (North Shore) 2:04.01, 1; Penny Marshall (North Shore) 2:05.04, 2; Cara Baker (Kiwi West) 2:05.22, 3.
50m freestyle: Te Rina Taite (Jasi) 26.33, 1; Alison Fitch (North Shore) 26.39, 2; Hannah Saunders (QE2) 26.74, 3.
100m freestyle: Corney Swanepoel (North Shore) 50.58, 1; Mark Herring (West Auckland Aquatics) 50.69, Michael Jack (West Auckland Aquatics) 51.32, 3.
For further information: Ian Hepenstall, Sports Media NZ, Tel 0275 613181, E: ianhep@xtra.co.nz
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