Three NZ swimmers qualify at Fina World Youth
Three New Zealand swimmers are through to the semifinals on the opening day of the inaugural Fina World Youth Championships in Brazil.
Kurt Bassett (Auckland), Natalie Wiegersma (Southland) and Emily Thomas (Gisborne) all qualified semifinals on the opening session at Rio de Janeiro.
Bassett (Mt Eden) set a personal best of 57.88s to finish sixth fastest qualifier in the men’s 100m backstroke, only 1/10th of a second outside the national age group record.
Wiegersma (Spirit of Southland) and Thomas (Comet) were fifth and ninth fastest respectively in the women’s event over the same distance. Wiegersma clocked 1:03.90 and Thomas 1:04.96 in the heats, both marginally outside their best.
Raumati’s Shane Patience, Kane Radford (Russell Athletic, Rotorua) and Orinoco Faamausili-Banse-Prince (Mt Eden) all registered personal bests in their heats but did not advance.
Day 1 heats, NZ results:
200m freestyle: Shane Patience (Raumati) 1:56.75, 20th, Kane Radford 1:59.34, 30.
100m backstroke: Kurt Bassett (Mt Eden) 57.88, 6; Orinoco Faamausili-Banse-Prince (Mt Eden) 1:05.46, 38.
100m backstroke: Natalie Wiegersma (Southland) 1:03.90, 5; Emily Thomas 1:04.76, 9.
100m butterfly: Patience 1:00.32, 25.
