KEY POINTS:
New Zealand swimmers were again edged out of the medals on the third day of the FINA World Short Course Championships in Manchester today.
Melissa Ingram finished fourth in the final of the 200m backstroke, Helen Norfolk seventh in the 400m freestyle, and Dean Kent eighth in the
200m individual medley on a day of records for the Kiwi camp.
They established five national records to Ingram in the 200m backstroke, Corney Swanepoel in the 50m butterfly, Kent in the 200m individual medley, Norfolk in the 400m freestyle and Glenn Snyders in the 200m breaststroke.
Ingram was the second New Zealander at the meet to narrowly miss out on a medal, finishing fourth in the 200m backstroke which was dominated by a stunning world record by Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry.
The New Zealander claimed her second national record of the day, clocking 2:04.70 in the final after reducing her own mark by 7/10ths of a second in the morning heat.
The 22-year-old pushed boldly into contention turning at the midway mark in third place in a fraction over the minute mark but the fast finishing American Margaret Hoelzner edged Ingram out of the bronze medal.
It would have been Ingram's second bronze in this event after finishing third at Indianapolis in 2004.
Norfolk, who also went well under her national record in the morning heat, pushed out confidently in the final, sitting a length behind the three leaders through the first half of the race, but she could not maintain that bold momentum to finish seventh, two seconds slower than her morning swim.
Kent also made an aggressive start to his 200m individual medley final, challenging for fourth after the backstroke leg midway through the race. He was tackled late in the breaststroke and paid the price for his gallant approach to be edged back to eighth as American Ryan Lochte powered away to win in a new world record.
The morning session brought a raft of New Zealand records with three swimmers advancing directly to finals, two to semifinals and five national records in the process.
Swanepoel took 4/10ths off his own mark clocking 23.23 to be third fastest qualifier in the 50m butterfly, but was half a second slower in the semifinal, missing out on a place in the final by 4/100ths of a second.
Teammate Moss Burmester also made it through to the semifinals after a personal best 23.72 in the morning but did not advance to the finals although his speed will no doubt give him a boost with the 200m butterfly on the final day.
Snyders had to be content with his second New Zealand record clocking 2:10.30, more than a second inside the 1995 record of Paul Kent for the 200m breaststroke, but it was not enough to make it into the top eight for the finals.
Ingram clocked 2:05.55 to be fifth fastest in the 200m backstroke heats and she went faster again in the final, while Norfolk reduced her own record in the 400m freestyle, taking 1.5s off the mark in 4:04.51.
Kent edged under his 2005 mark to record 1:56.74 to be fifth fastest qualifier from the heats.
Earlier Daniel Bell (West Auckland) came within 1/100th of the national record clocking 24.64 to be 19th fastest in the 50m backstroke while Robert Voss (North Shore) achieved a personal best 3:50.50.74 to be 19th fastest in the 400m freestyle.
- NZPA
