Swimming: Eight NZers make World Cup finals

SYDNEY - New Zealand will be well represented in the first session of finals at the World Cup meet tonight after eight swimmers qualified from their heats.

Helen Norfolk, Hannah McLean, Alison Fitch, Liz Coster, Georgina Toomey, Zoe Baker, Moss Burmester and Dean Kent were all timed inside the top eight in their events.

McLean looms as the best medal chance in the women's events after qualifying second fastest in the 200m backstroke.

McLean won her heat in two minutes 9.31 seconds, a touch slower than Australian Tayliah Zimmer, who recorded 2min 9.01sec.

She also qualified fourth for the 50m backstroke in 28.22sec in a field led by another local Giaan Rooney, who recorded 27.88sec.

Veteran Kent will also double up after qualifying fifth for the 100m individual medley in 55.86sec, less than 1sec behind top qualifier, German Thomas Rupprath.

World record holder, South African Ryk Neethling, and Australian Adam Lucas also block Kent's path to the podium.

Kent will also contest his specialist event, the 400m individual medley, which did not require heats.

Burmester is possibly New Zealand's best male chance for a medal with a fraction of a second separating the top four qualifiers in the 200m butterfly.

Nikolay Skvortsov lead the field with a time of 1min 56.76sec while Burmester, who just lined up next to the Russian in heat three, was just a shade slower in 1min 56.87sec.

Less than 1sec covers the top seven qualifiers in the women's 200m freestyle, including Fitch, who was sixth fastest in 1min 57.95sec.

Australian Libby Lenton qualified top with a time of 1min 57.02sec.

Fitch also sneaked into the 50m freestyle final in eighth spot, 1sec slower than Dutch top qualifier Marleen Veldhuis, who recorded 24.70sec.

Norfolk finished second to Kirsty Coventry to qualify third fastest behind the Zimbabwean and Australian Olympian Alice Mills in the 200m individual medley.

However, Norfolk will have to make up more than 2sec on Mills' qualifying time of 2min 11.60sec.

Baker drew the outside lane in the 100m breaststroke while Coster and Toomey both made a 100m butterfly final expected to be dominated by world record holder Natalie Coughlin, of the United States, and Australia's Jessicah Schipper.

Coster was fifth fastest in 1min 0.65sec and Toomey eighth in 1min 1.07sec.

Former South African Corey Swanepoel was unlucky not to make the finals in the 50m butterfly.

He was timed at 24.39sec to finish third in his heat but missed out on lane eight to American Peter Marshall, who recorded 24.30sec.

The New Zealand team are using the World Cup meet as preparation for the Commonwealth Games selection trials in Auckland on December 6-10.

- NZPA