Coster best of swimmers at World University Games
North Shore’s Liz Coster (pictured) was the best of the New Zealand swimmers on the second day of competition in the pool at the World University Games in Bangkok.
Coster finished sixth in the final of the 50m backstroke tonight where she clocked a personal best of 29.28s.
The 24-year-old qualified seventh fastest in 29.49s in the heats but went faster in the final for a creditable sixth placing.
She was the only New Zealand to qualify for an A final with clubmate Helen Norfolk finishing sixth in the B final of the 200m individual medley. Norfolk, who broke the New Zealand record in the United States recently, was below her best clocking 2:17.63 in the heats to miss out on the A final.
In other performances from the morning heats Georgina Toomey (West Auckland Aquatics) was 30th fastest in the 100m butterfly in 1:04.77 and Melissa Ingram (North Shore) 21st in the 50m backstroke clocking 30.49.
Robert Voss (North Shore) was 20th in 8:18.49 and Bryn Murphy 22nd in a personal best 8:21.53 in the heats of the 800m freestyle while the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay combination of Corney Swanepoel, Cameron Gibson, Mark Hurring and Michael Jack were 11th fastest in the heats in 3:22.08.
The New Zealand team comprises 73 athletes from nine different sports. With over 10,000 competitors and officials from 170 nations competing in 17 sports, the World University Games are the second largest global multi-sports event after the Summer Olympics.
Day 2 finals results:
50m backstroke A final: Aya Terakawa (JPN) 28.61, 1 (GR); Aliaksandra Herasimenia (BLR) 28.70, 2; Sviatlana Khakhlova (BLR) 28.83, 3; Liz Coster (NZL) 29.28, 6.
200m individual medley B final: Helen Norfolk (NZL) 2:17.90, 6.
