By SIMON LOUISSON
Tauranga 21-year-old Moss Burmester just missed a podium finish yesterday.
Swimming the fastest race of his life in his Games debut, Burmester, the No 7 qualifier, cracked the two-minute barrier for the first time in the 200m butterfly.
He finished strongly in fourth place in 1m 59.94s.
"I'm stoked," he said,
adding that he believed he could push himself even faster.
"I've definitely got more there."
Burmester said it was tough having his specialist event so early in the meeting.
The race was won by Justin Norris, of Australia, in a Games record of 1m 56.95s.
Englishmen Stephen Parry and James Hickman picked up silver and bronze respectively.
Liz van Welie, in the first final involving New Zealand, also set a personal best in the 200m individual medley.
She clocked 2m 17.04s and came a creditable sixth to the upset winner, Kirsty Coventry, of Zimbabwe, who took the gold in a Games record of 2m 14.53s.
Van Welie was just 0.4s outside Anna Wilson's six-year-old national mark.
New Zealand had a good morning session.
Of the six starters only 200m freestyler Melissa Jane Ingram failed to progress to the semifinals or finals.
Men's 50m backstrokers Cameron Gibson and Jonathan Winter improved on their morning session times.
Gibson finished fourth in his heat in 26.98s and was sixth in the semifinal in 26.97s.
He said he had hoped "to go a lot better than that" but had a poor start "as usual."
Winter was fifth in his heat with a time of 27.46s, and eighth and last in the semis in 27.43s.
He said it was a good warm-up for his favourite 50m butterfly today.
Hannah McLean, in the 50m butterfly semifinal, also bettered her morning session time, but finished seventh in 28.21s.
Dean Kent, one of the team's best medal hopes, withdrew from the 200m butterfly, which is not his main event.
He had been battling a throat infection, but the team management maintained that he would be fit for the 400m medley on Saturday.
Swim team manager Mark Saunders said Kent's condition had improved and he had not missed a training session.
Melissa Jane Ingram came sixth in her 200m freestyle heat, a warm-up event for her.
Her time of 2m 7.04s was more than 7s behind the fastest qualifier.
- NZPA
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