Cool water may favour Radford's Olympic bid

Cool water temperatures and strong tides are expected to favour Rotorua swimmer Kane Radford in the final Olympic qualifier for the 10km open water swim in Portugal tomorrow.

The four-strong New Zealand contingent is fighting to fill a spot among the remaining nine places open in the men's and women's competition for London.

Swimming New Zealand Open Water manager Philip Rush took the quartet of Radford, Cara Baker, Charlotte Webby and Jonathan Pullon to Europe three days ago.

The current water temperature in Setubal Bay, just south of Lisbon, is 16C.

"It's cold for sure and that will suit our swimmers. They have come out of cold conditions at home and are used to swimming in this," Rush said.

"It is also quite tidal and the current will definitely play a part. Navigation and tactics will be a factor as swimmers go against the tide up the course and back with it."

Rush is predicting stern competition for the New Zealanders, with 62 men entered and 40 women.

Nine spots are remaining for both men and women to complete the fields for London, with only one swimmer per nation eligible to qualify.

The men's field includes high quality swimmers such as David Davies (Great Britain), who was second in the 10km at the 2008 Olympic Games, and Ossama Mellouli (Tunisia) who won the 1500m freestyle at Beijing.

The women's line-up is also going to be very competitive since the USA have not qualified, so their two best open water swimmers are competing.

"It's going to be very tough, but I think we are in good shape."

Rush is hoping for a strong pace over the six laps of just over 1.6km to ensure the race does not come down to a bunch sprint.

"It is certainly our best chance. There's so much riding on this I expect the strongest swimmers will want to set a good pace."

The women's 10km race gets underway today at 4pm local time, and the men's race is tomorrow.