Otago swimmer Andrew McMillan has had his Beijing Olympic disappointment partially erased by making the New Zealand surf lifesaving team for July's world championships in Germany.
The St Clair club member missed an Olympic qualifying time by eight tenths of a second in the 200m freestyle at the
national swimming championships, and has also broken 2m for the 200m butterfly.
"While it's sad Andy won't be going to Beijing, he's a massive boost to our team," New Zealand surf coach John Bryant said. "We're putting a lot of emphasis on the pool component of the worlds and that's exactly where Andy's strengths lie."
McMillan is in Manchester at the world short course swimming championships, and his selection completed the 12-strong surf team, the majority of them picked after February's Surf League.
Another top New Zealand surf lifesaving squad member, Lyall Bay 18-year-old Natasha Hind, qualified for Beijing in the 200m freestyle relay team after recording the fifth-fastest time at the swim nationals.
Surf Life Saving New Zealand high performance manager Alex Chiet was delighted for Hind, and was encouraged by the strong links developing between Swimming New Zealand and his organisation.
"Many of our top lifeguards need to be strong swimmers and having our members qualify for the Olympics shows that the investment in athlete development in both sports is on the right track," Chiet said.
The team is captained by Papamoa's Glenn Anderson, while Westshore's Nikki Cox leads the women.
NZ SURF TEAM
Men: Glenn Anderson (captain), Michael Buck, Kevin Morrison, Ben Willis, Steven Kent, Andrew McMillan.
Women: Nikki Cox, Johanna O'Connor, Chelsea Maples, Julia Toomey, Georgina Toomey, Ayla Dunlop-Barrett.
- NZPA
