Swimming: Squad lose sprinter to US coach

Hayley Palmer will be coached by highly-rated American Randy Reese. Photo / Getty Images

The country's best woman sprint swimmer, Hayley Palmer, has exited Swimming New Zealand's high performance programme to work with a top American coach.

Palmer says she has left the programme - and her coach of three-and-a-half years Scott Talbot - on good terms. However, the move raises further questions over SNZ's recent handling of its top athletes.

The decision comes in the wake of Daniel Bell's breach of the zero-alcohol tolerance policy at the Commonwealth Games and the Herald on Sunday investigation which revealed a perceived culture of fear in the athlete ranks.

"The relationship between me and Scott got to a point where we decided that, to achieve what I wanted, I had to change programmes," said Palmer.

"I believe I can get more out of myself if I'm not based here [at SNZ's Millennium Institute base] but I would be open to working with him again in the future."

In the US, Palmer will be coached by Randy Reese whose pedigree includes taking 41 swimmers to 35 Olympic medals, mainly in the 1980s. Six of his charges have broken 16 world records. The intention is for Reese to work with Palmer at his Florida base until the world championships at Shanghai in July. From there, she intends to move to a college programme, likely in Arizona or Texas. She will then decide if she will stay with Reese through until the London Olympics.

The 21-year-old has Kiwi parents but spent most of her formative years in the United Kingdom. She has turned down opportunities to swim for Britain, saying she "bleeds black".

While her childhood might have been in the UK, it didn't stop her family getting up in the middle of the night to "cheer on the All Blacks".

Palmer's focus remains on returning to the UK, but under different circumstances.

"I'm listed as a gold-carded targeted athlete by Sparc looking ahead to this year's world championships and the London Olympics. They have guaranteed to do whatever's required to get the best for me.

"The challenge now is to work with Swimming New Zealand to integrate what I want with what they want, which essentially boils down to an Olympic gold medal. We need to work out how we make this work.

"I've put forward a number of proposals and plans; the trip so far will be largely self-funded, with some assistance from family, my PEG [performance enhancement grant] and independent sponsors."

Palmer refuses to be drawn into discussing any other reasons for such a sudden departure. She remains contracted to SNZ whose code of conduct includes a clause to "not speak to any media in a negative way regarding Swimming NZ Inc".

"I don't want to be seen as a disruptive troublemaker," Palmer says. "I simply want to be in a place where I feel comfortable with the best opportunities. People have been asking me whether I was asked to leave the [high performance] squad by Swimming New Zealand but that is not true. I made the decision independently but haven't signed any exit form as yet."

Other sources have confirmed SNZ could soon face further questioning from its high performance group, a number of whom are in the New Zealand Federation of Athletes.

Initially their concerns are represented by Olympic veteran Helen Norfolk and Heath Mills, the boss of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association.

The idea is the pair will speak to the swimmers once a month and relay any concerns to SNZ's general manager of performance and pathways, Jan Cameron.

The most common complaints are what athletes perceive to be a "don't question us" mentality from SNZ and queries over why the programme has to be centralised - often basing swimmers at the Millennium Institute full-time in their late teens.

SNZ's high performance programme is under review from Sparc after the dissatisfaction revealed in the ranks following the Commonwealth Games. That review is due by April 30.

SNZ is to receive $1.65 million from the taxpayer this year, provided it can prove it is functioning effectively at the top level.

Questions remain over how much Palmer will receive in addition to her current PEG of $20,000. Sparc works through each national sporting organisation (NSO) to divvy out that funding.

Sparc high performance manager Martin Toomey recommends Palmer receive SNZ's full support.

"We are aware Hayley is embarking on this different coaching arrangement. We think it is a good move and should be supported by Swimming New Zealand so she can maximise her success. We still believe she should be part of the system.

"The success of a centralised approach can vary. On one hand, you have rowing which is totally centralised because they work as a campaign year-in, year-out; whereas track and field athletes like Val Adams and Nick Willis work as individuals because they want to compete at different meets. Swimmers probably fall into the latter group."

Palmer had the 15th fastest time in the women's 50m freestyle last year - 0.38s outside the top three - and won bronze medals in that event and the 4x100m freestyle relay at October's Commonwealth Games.

She was fourth in the 100m freestyle in Delhi, an event where she finished 11th at the 2009 world championships. She had the 22nd fastest time in that event last year, 1.01s outside the top three.

The next aim for Palmer is to set world championship qualifying times when she returns for the national championships in April. She heads to the US early this week.