The inquest has begun after New Zealand's only medal hope at the swimming world championships was left treading water in his specialist event in Italy yesterday.
Moss Burmester cut a forlorn figure as he emerged from the Foro Italio pool in Rome after failing to advance to today's 200m butterfly
final.
Burmester, the Commonwealth champion and fifth-ranked swimmer this year in his favoured discipline, was a disappointing sixth in his semifinal and the 11th fastest qualifier overall.
He eased through his heats but failed to fire in the second semifinal - his time of 1m 55.35s was 2s slower than top qualifier Matsuda Takeshi of Japan.
Fourth at the Beijing Olympics last year, Burmester now has to regroup for the 100m butterfly heats tomorrow.
Swimming New Zealand head coach Jan Cameron said Burmester struggled with his rhythm after the first of four laps.
"He just didn't appear to be as relaxed and as intense as he usually is," Cameron told Radio Sport.
"He swam the first lap really well and then pulled it back a fraction and got into a mechanical tempo instead of his usual flow.
"Moss is pretty down about it but he can't afford to wallow too much because he has the 100 fly as well."
Cameron said Burmester and his coach Thomas Ansong were "bemused" at the Aucklander's performance and were studying the video to pinpoint what went wrong.
She was confident Burmester was mentally capable of recovering from this setback before his next event.
"One bad swim doesn't mean the end of Moss Burmester. I'm sure he'll fight back."
Takeshi qualified top after shading Olympic champion Michael Phelps in the other semifinal.
Earlier, a national record was enough for Glenn Snyders to qualify for the 50m breaststroke semifinals.
Snyders trimmed 0.2s off his own New Zealand mark when clocking 27.27s, but finished 28th overall.
"That's given me some confidence to get a good swim under my belt," Snyders said.
"I was upset after the 100m, and now this shows I have the speed. I am excited looking forward to the 200m and I have another chance to get the 100m right in the medley relay."
Snyders has his 200m breaststroke heats tonight (NZT) and hopes to repeat his semifinal-making performance at Beijing.
Hayley Palmer (100m freestyle) and Kurt Bassett (200m backstroke) are also in action today.
- NZPA
Moss Burmester was 11th fastest in the semifinals, with only the top eight advancing to the final. Photo / Kenny Rodger
The inquest has begun after New Zealand's only medal hope at the swimming world championships was left treading water in his specialist event in Italy yesterday.
Moss Burmester cut a forlorn figure as he emerged from the Foro Italio pool in Rome after failing to advance to today's 200m butterfly
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