Swimming: Boyle annihilates 800m freestyle record

US-based swimmer Lauren Boyle last night smashed the longest-standing national swimming record when powering to victory in the 800m at the New Zealand championships last night.

The 23-year-old freestyler won in 8m 33.30, more than 2.5 seconds under the Fina 'A' qualifying time, more than two seconds quicker than the time set by Phillipa Langrell at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and 15s clear of her main rival on the night, open water specialist Cara Baker.

"I didn't know if I was capable of going under the qualifying time," said Boyle, who is completing a business degree at the University of California, Berkeley. "Then I thought I might as well give it a shot."

Boyle set her first national time as a 13-year-old in the 50m and had gradually moved up the distances since then. With the London Olympics in mind, she wants to give the 800m a real go, having swum the 4x200m relay in Beijing.

"I really want to make it in an individual event this time. I have not had that much experience in the 800m but I'm really interested to see what I'm capable of," Boyle said.

Hers was not the only good big news of the night in Auckland.

Glenn Snyders, on his 24th birthday, set his second world championship qualifying time in the 200m breaststroke.

Snyders cleared out with a terrific final 50m to win in 2m 12.89s, almost a second under the qualifying time.

It is his third national title of the week, having won in the 50m and 100m, where he also set a qualifying time for the Shanghai world championships to be held in July.

"Good breaststrokers have all the distances in them," Snyders said, adding that his immediate goal was an A final in China.

There was disappointment in the women's 100m where Shanghai hopefuls Tash Hind and Hayley Palmer finished shy of the qualifying standard.

Wellington's Hind won the race in 55.53s, .29s outside the Fina time, while Palmer's 55.80s was nearly two seconds slower than her national record.

There were few heroics in the men's 200m backstroke, with winner Gareth Kean's time of 2m 00.94s more than 3.5 seconds slower than his national record and more than two seconds slower than the Fina qualifying time. He suffered from the absence of 50m and 100m national champion Daniel Bell, who would have provided Kean with more pace in the first 150m.

Bell has been under the weather for several weeks and was conserving his energy for the final of the 200m butterfly tonight.

Melissa Ingram and Sophia Batchelor will try to qualify in the 200m backstroke, as will Dylan Dunlop-Barrett in the 1500m.