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Twenty-nine year old Dean Kent will join clubmate Helen Norfolk as the only swimmers to attend three Olympics after he went under the qualifying mark on the fourth night of heats at Waitakere tonight.

Kent edged under the Beijing qualifying time by 13/100ths of a second in the 200m individual medley at the Absolute Insurance Olympic Trials at the West Wave Aquatic Centre.

This brings the number of individual qualifiers to six plus the women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team with two days of finals remaining.

While Kent showed he is still a world class competitor at aged 29, there were also three young stars who went close to joining him in the team to Beijing.

Kurt Bassett, 17, missed Olympic qualification by just 1/100^th of a second in the 200m backstroke, North Shore’s Hayley Palmer, 18, was 3/10ths away in the 100m freestyle and West Auckland’s Mark Herring, 23, was just 16/100ths away in the 50m freestyle.

While Bassett was unlucky to miss his major goal, he had plenty of compensation in becoming the first New Zealander to go under the two minute barrier, breaking the longest standing national record in the process.

His time of 1:59.73 broke the 20 year old record of the great Paul Kingsman, set in winning a bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

In the stands watching Bassett tonight was Igor Poliansky, who won the Seoul gold medal.

Bassett, currently in the first year of a scholarship at Indiana University, hopes he can find the fingertip needed to earn himself a place in the team to Beijing.

He produced a superb performance going through the 100m in 58.23 and the three-quarter mark in 1:28.53. But he faded slightly over the last 10m, hitting the lane rope on his way to his 1:59.73.

It was mixed feelings for the 20 year old.

“On one hand I am really pleased with the swim. My aim was to break the New Zealand record and so to go under the two minute mark was fantastic,” Bassett said. “At the same time it was disappointing to miss out on Beijing by only 1/100^th of a second.

“I definitely faded over the last 10m so I believe I can find that extra 1/100^th of a second in the final tomorrow.”

Record holder Mark Herring broke his own national record to set up a much awaited final in the 50m freestyle.

Herring (West Auckland), 23, who was edged out by Cameron Gibson by just 2/100ths of a second in the final of the 100m freestyle, finished as top qualifier. He clocked 22.51 to be 3/10ths of a second clear of Gibson and Orinoco Faamausili-Banse (Laser Mt Eden).

He was also 3/10ths inside the record that he set at the Auckland Championships last month and only 16/100ths of a second off the qualifying time for Beijing.

Palmer impressed with a strong performance in the heats of the 100m freestyle, going out in a slick 26.92 split on the way to her 55.89 which sets up a crack at the qualifying mark in tomorrow’s final.

Kent faced real pressure to make it through, clocking 2:01.27 in his heat, one second off his national record.

“I feel relieved. I would like to say ecstatic but I was disappointed with my time,” Kent said. “It’s great to have qualified for sure but I was hoping for a much faster time.

“I gave everything I had out there. There was a fair bit of pressure and I was unsure how I was going off the back of the 400 but I felt great in the water.

“Everything building up to this pointed to a 1:59 but I will talk to my coach Scott Talbot-Cameron and we will reset for the final tomorrow and see if I can go faster. I’m happy but there’s still work to come. I think I paced my race wrong.

“It is a real honour though to join Helen as the only swimmers to go to three Olympics. It means a lot. It’s very special to represent your country especially at the Olympic Games.

“It took a huge effort to secure my spot. It’s not something to be taken lightly which is why I heaped so much pressure on myself.”

Tomorrow’s penultimate day of finals features Kent in the 200m individual medley, the men’s 50m freestyle, women’s 100m freestyle, men’s 200m backstroke and women’s 200m breaststroke.