KEY POINTS:
Top New Zealand swimmer Moss Burmester won the 200m butterfly title at the Telstra Grand Prix in Brisbane today.
Burmester, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist, took out the final in a comfortable 2min 00.22sec at the Chandler Centre.
He topped qualifiers last night, clocking 2min 02.49sec in his
heat of a competition based on the Beijing Olympics format -- with heats in the evening and finals in the morning.
New Zealand coach Jan Cameron said while the time was some way from his best, it was a convincing display given they had flown from the United States yesterday after three weeks of intensive training with world and Olympic champion Michael Phelps at the US Olympic training base in Colorado Springs.
"Moss has put in three very hard weeks of training. We were very fortunate to be invited by Bob Bowman to join his University of Michigan and Club Wolverine elite swimmers," Cameron said.
"It was very demanding. We trained either two or three sessions every day with each session around 90 minutes, and then there was an hour of dry land training each day -- either weights, pilates or cardio."
Cameron said Burmester responded well.
"In one session he went head to head with Phelps who did backstroke over 40 sets of 50m with short rest.
"They also did 10 X 100m kick drill on 1min 50sec and then they did one more to see how fast they could go. Phelps did 1min 03sec and Moss did 1min 07sec which was the second fastest from the entire squad.
"We do a similar drill at home and Moss was a full five seconds faster than he has done before.
"It's been exhilarating for both of us. I've been fortunate to talk and watch both Bob Bowman and the great Michigan coach Jon Urbanchek."
Cameron said had they not committed to the Brisbane event and to next week's New Zealand coaches conference, she would have taken up an offer to compete this weekend in Michigan.
"It's been a wonderful experience and something we must continue to do if we are to push our swimmers to their real potential."
Burmester will compete in the heats of the 200m freestyle tonight and they return to New Zealand tomorrow.
Palmerston North teenager Cara Baker finished fourth in the final of the 800m freestyle at the same meeting.
The 16-year-old, the youngest in the final, clocked a solid 8min 52.62sec.
New Zealand results, Telstra Grand Prix, Brisbane:
200m butterfly: Moss Burmester (NZ) 2min 00.22sec 1, Nick Cordner (Victoria) 2:01.80 2, Nick Darcy (Queensland) 2:02.26 3.
800m freestyle: Kylie Palmer (Queensland) 8:41.78 1, Melissa Gorman (Northern Territory) 8:45.72 2, Lorren Sellwood (Queensland) 8:50.53, 3, Cara Baker (NZ) 8:52.62 4.
- NZPA
