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Burmester, Norfolk brilliant in Olympic Trials

Burmester, Norfolk brilliant in Olympic Trials
27th March 2008

Moss Burmester (pictured) regained his Commonwealth record in the 200m butterfly to highlight the third night of heats at the Absolute Insurance 08 Olympic Trials at Waitakere tonight.

He was joined by North Shore team-mate Helen Norfolk who crushed her own national record to score her second Olympic qualifying performance in the 200m individual medley, to go with her 400m IM effort earlier in the meet.

The pair also broke their own New Zealand records and were joined by clubmate Glenn Snyders, who bettered his own mark in the 200m breaststroke.

Five swimmers have now qualified for Beijing in six events.

Burmester, 26, produced a brilliant solo swim to record 1:54.99, which broke his own national record and regained the Commonwealth record lost earlier this week to Nick D’Arcy in the Australian Olympic trials.

The Commonwealth Games gold medallist, who was fourth in last year’s World Championships, went out powerfully through the 100m in 54.76s and came home in 60 seconds for his final 100m in a superb performance.

Burmester was delighted to qualify but believes there’s more to come.

“The swim didn’t feel like a really, really good swim so I know there plenty more there,” Burmester said.

“Before the race I was confident I could get my Commonwealth record back and do a PB.

“I guess there was some extra motivation to get the record back although you can’t really concern yourself about your opposition or you lose track on yourself.

“I’ve worked with my coaches on the times I need to hit in training and I think there’s still more left.

“I was confident I could do the qualifying time because I had done it before in training and in Beijing at the test event but I put pressure on myself to keep improving and swimming faster.”

Norfolk showed her absolute class and tough attitude to bounce back from a mediocre 400m freestyle final this morning and the heats of the 200m freestyle 20 minutes before her medley.

The 26 year old paced herself well over the first 100m and came home strongly to clock 2:14.00, more than a second inside the Olympic qualifying time and her previous record.

“I was trying for the 400m free today but my race did not go to plan,” Norfolk said. “I kinda lost a bit of confidence. So going into tonight I gave it my all and really believed in myself so much and it was a great time.

“But I know now that I can do so much better. I am just so glad to have qualified.

“I expected to go a bit quicker. I’ve been stuck around the same for years and it’s about time I really made a big, big improvement like I did in the 400 IM. I’m really positive every time I go into that race now.”

Snyders followed his record effort in the 100m breaststroke to break his own record over the 200m. He produced a solo effort to win in 2:14.47, which was more than a second inside his old mark and only 8/10ths of a second off the Olympic qualifying time.

In other swims National short course 100m champion Hayley Palmer laid down the challenge in the women’s 200m freestyle by topping qualifiers, while Charlotte Webby (Bell Block) was fastest in the heats of the 200m butterfly.

The men’s 100m freestyle is shaping as a cracker with former record holder Cameron Gibson (Bath University) fastest, just 3/100ths of a second ahead of new record-holder Mark Herring (West Auckland).

Christchurch’s Annabelle Carey (Aquagym) was fastest in heats of the 50m breaststroke and Kurt Bassett (Laser Mt Eden) topped the heats of the 50m backstroke.

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