Swimming: Record-breaking McLean into world champs final

Hannah McLean

North Shore backstroker Hannah McLean became the first New Zealand individual in seven years to qualify for a final at world swimming championships in Montreal.

The 24-year-old broke her own New Zealand record twice on the second day of the championships today (NZ time), qualifying in third fastest time for tomorrow's final of the 100m backstroke.

Ranked 12th in the world going into the championships, McLean beat the Athens silver medallist Reiko Nakamuru to win the first semifinal on the second night of competition.

After lowering her own New Zealand record to one minute 01.46 seconds in the morning heats, McLean sliced it further with a superb 1min 01.14sec to win the first semifinal.

She also accounted for Australia's leading backstroker and Athens medallist Giann Rooney in the semifinal.

Olympic gold medallist and world record holder Nathalie Coughlin (US) topped the qualifiers in winning the second semifinal in 1min 00.59sec with Athens bronze medallist Antje Buschschulte second fastest in 1min 00.67sec.

The New Zealander will be assured of great company when she lines up alongside Coughlin in tomorrow's final where she will now be a medal candidate.

She is now the first New Zealander since Danyon Loader in 1998 to qualify for an individual final at the world championships.

New Zealand coach Jan Cameron was thrilled with her performance.

"It was a terrific swim from Hannah, It was fantastic," Cameron said.

"She has dedicated herself so much over the last year or more and has been in excellent form leading up to this meet.

"For her the job is still half done. She can go quicker. Hannah believes she will need to go under the one minute barrier to win a medal and is in the right frame of mind to achieve it."

McLean highlighted the second day in the pool for the New Zealanders.

She clocked 1min 01.46sec to take 1/10th of a second off her own record in finishing fourth fastest overall and second in her heat in the morning.

Top medley exponent Dean Kent had a shakedown for his big swims to come, clocking 1min 54.66sec in his heat of the 200m freestyle, the 53rd fastest time with the North Shore swimmer ranked outside the top 150 coming into the championships.

Tomorrow is a smaller programme for the New Zealanders, led by Moss Burmester who will be looking to qualify in the 200m butterfly. Others on the programme include Alison Fitch and Helen Norfolk in the heats of the 200m freestyle and Glenn Synders in the 50m breaststroke.

- NZPA