Swimming: Capp given chance to reign in Spain

Greerton's Nathan Capp has been selected in the 14-strong Aqua Black squad to swim at the world championships in Barcelona in July after he won his third consecutive 400m individual medley title at the New Zealand Swimming Championships over the weekend.

Capp knows that a good performance in Spain will set him well on the road to Commonwealth Games next year and the Rio Olympics in 2016.

The 20-year-old, who is based at the High Performance Centre in Auckland, went out aggressively in the final, building up a good lead through the butterfly and backstroke legs and he managed to hold on as the attack came from fellow newly-named Aqua Black team member Mitchell Donaldson.

His time of 4min 22.50s was enough to get Capp selected along with four other young swimmers who met the Rio development criteria under the Fina B qualifying standard, although Capp has his sight set on going under the A qualifying time for direct selection for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

"I am very happy with my performance making the B time but I would have liked to have made the A time which is about three seconds faster," said Capp.

"I can definitely get there. But this is kind of like my break I guess and i think this is really going to help me jump from the level I have been at for the last couple of years to the next open world level."

Capp has an extended build up beginning in June before the world championships with three international meets in Spain and France, along with two training camps in Spain, including one at high altitude in Sierra Nevada.

Tai Daniela coached Capp at Greerton from 2007 to 2011 and was obviously pleased to see his former charge make the "All Blacks of our sport".

"Nathan's success is down to good long-term development planning as he never swam at junior nationals and did not set a Bay of Plenty record until he was 15, but at 20 is tracking positively towards the Rio Olympics," said Daniela.

A scheduling clash at the weekend meant Capp was unable to swim his other signature event, the 1500m freestyle.

Daniela believes Capp also has the potential to meet the Fina standards in that event.