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North Shore 20-year-old Glenn Snyders stepped up to become the new star of the Absolute Insurance 08 Olympic Swim Trials at Waitakere City today.

Snyders added the Olympic 200m breaststroke berth to the 100m breaststroke qualification earlier in the meet – and became the first qualifier to go faster in the morning heat than in the heats on the previous night at the West Wave Aquatic Centre.

The New Zealand trials are being staged under the same format as in Beijing with the heats at night and finals in the morning, but so far the six other qualifying swims have been swum faster in the heats.

Five individuals in seven events and one relay team have now qualified for Beijing with two days of finals remaining.

Snyders’ team-mate Moss Burmester also went under the qualifying time to win the final of the 200m butterfly, while Helen Norfolk, the queen of the pool, showed she was also the toughest with two titles within minutes today.

Snyders has been the most improved of the leading swimmers at the meet, knocking 1.3 seconds off his previous best in the 100m and today he clocked 2:13.05 to go under the Olympic mark and also smash his national record by more than 2.5 seconds.

“I had it in my mind that I wanted to swim this event at the Olympics and I gave it everything. I was stoked at the time,” Snyders said.

“I was a good two seconds off qualifying coming into the meet but the way I swam in the 100m gave me confidence.”

Snyders said he did not know why he was the first to go faster in his morning final.

“I just went about everything the same. I just felt awesome this morning and so glad that I could go under the time.”

Norfolk, 26, (pictured) came from behind to defend her 200m freestyle title edging out US-based Lauren Boyle (West Auckland Aquatics) and Hayley Palmer (North Shore).

Twenty five minutes later she was back in the pool to retain her 200m individual medley title in 2:17.76, after clocking 2:14 to set a new record and go under the Beijing mark in last night’s heats.

“I really wanted to have a real crack at the record in the freestyle. I wanted to become the first woman to go under the two minutes. I was a bit out but I still had a good race. I am happy about that,” Norfolk said.

“The 200 medley after that was about how much I could kill myself, how well I could swim under fatigue. It really hurt. It hurt a lot and I am really pleased with what I did.”

Burmester was untroubled in winning the 200m butterfly in 1:55.50, half a second outside last night’s Commonwealth record but well inside the Olympic qualifying mark.

“We will see if we do go quicker at night in Beijing – we will find that out,” Burmester said. “I struggled to get to sleep and woke up early. It was a bit difficult.

“I think the Olympics will be a bit different because it is a longer programme over nine days so it is more spaced out with more time in between.”

The women’s 4x200m freestyle relay also cemented their place in Beijing after the 200m freestyle final. They earned an invitation after a top-12 finish at last year’s World Championships but had to re-qualify under NZOC requirements.

The make-up of the relay team will be finalised after the 4x200m freestyle relay.

Outstanding West Auckland 17 year old Daniel Bell pushed his claims with a New Zealand record in winning the 50m backstroke in 25.95, 25/100ths of a second inside the previous mark.

UK-based sprinter Cameron Gibson edged out record-holder Mark Herring (West Auckland) to win the 100m freestyle title by just 2/100ths of a second.

Rotorua’s Kane Radford came from behind on the last lap to take out the 1500m over Dunedin pacesetter Bryn Murphy in 15:38.48.

In other swims Annabelle Carey (Aquagym) won the 50m breaststroke and Charlotte Webby (Bell Block) took out the 200m butterfly.

The championships finish on Sunday.