Swimming: Kane's ready and able for race of life

It's a race Kane Radford has spent two years preparing for - one swim that could make or break his Olympic dream.

On Friday, the Rotorua 21-year-old will travel to Portugal to compete in next weekend's 10km open water swim Olympic qualifier on the River Sado. He must finish in the top nine of the 54-strong men's field to qualify for the London Games, a chance he's been waiting for since missing selection for Beijing as a 17-year-old.

For the former John Paul College student, competing in London means everything.

"It's a childhood dream of mine to represent my country at the Olympics," he said. "There's no higher honour."

Despite such high expectations he reckons he's not nervous, not yet anyway.

"I can only be excited for it," he said. "I've spent two years preparing for this race and it's all coming down to this."

The Auckland-based swimmer has been in strong form this year, claiming the New Zealand Ocean Swim Series title just a day after breaking Danyon Loader's longstanding 1500m freestyle record in the pool.

With his confidence high and preparation having all gone to plan, Radford leaves for Portugal knowing he's good enough to clinch that Olympic spot.

"Everything's starting to come together," he said. "I can't see why I won't make the top nine, it's definitely doable."

It's Radford's first trip to Portugal and he and New Zealand team mates Jonathan Pullon (Waterhole, Auckland), Cara Baker (Howick Pakuranga) and Charlotte Webby (New Plymouth) will travel to the city of Set?bal three days before the June 10 race to familiarise themselves with the river.

For the Kiwis that make the cut it will then be a hectic couple of months building up to the open swim event in Hyde Park's Serpentine lake on August 10.

"We come back [from Portugal] for one day then go to Cairns for a training camp for two weeks then back for two weeks then off to Belgium to prepare for the Olympics."