Swimming: Top-six finish for Boyle

Lauren Boyle. Photo / Getty Images

Hard work paved the way for Lauren Boyle to become the first New Zealand finalist on the opening day of the world swimming championships in Shanghai.

Boyle finished sixth in the final of the 400m freestyle, after slashing her own national record in the morning heats and going under her old record again in the final.

Teammate Glenn Snyders also set a significant record, becoming the first New Zealand breaststroker to go under the one minute barrier in finishing second fastest in the 100m heats.

He was up with his season's best in the semifinal but could not replicate his morning effort and missed out on a place in the final by just .033sec.

Boyle, 23, was third fastest qualifier in the morning, clocking a superb 4min 05.61sec. This was a shade under two seconds faster than the national record she set in the trials in April, and means the former University of California Berkeley star has dropped nearly four seconds from her 400m time this year.

Boyle returned permanently from the United States after completing her degree two months ago to train under Mark Regan at the Swimming New Zealand High Performance Centre. She believes the hard work is starting to pay dividends.

"It is definitely the biggest meet internationally that I have competed in so a place in the final was the goal," Boyle said.

"I was pretty surprised to do another pretty significant personal best after the trials because I had a big drop there.

"I've been working really hard with Mark and I haven't had a single day out of the water since starting to work with him two months ago. I think the hard work is paying off and I am definitely thinking about improving every day."

Boyle said the times were encouraging with the 200m and 800m freestyle to come.

"I am pretty motivated at the moment and I want to get better fast, and my best time here is a product of that. It's nice to swim fast on the first day and get the ball rolling. I am excited about the rest of the meet.

"My finals time was good for me. Although it was a little bit slower than the morning, I was happy with another really fast time. I will learn from this how to handle myself better in this atmosphere and not get over-excited."

Italy's Federica Pellegrini retained her world title in the final in 4min 01.97sec from double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington (Britain) with Boyle sixth in 4min 06.11sec, 1.5sec under her old national record.

The morning also started well for Boyle's North Shore clubmate Snyders, who went under the magical one minute barrier for the first time to finish second fastest qualifier in the men's 100m breaststroke.

The 24-year-old won the ninth of 11 heats in 59.94sec, which broke his own national mark set with the benefit of suits back in 2009.

Snyders, also coached by Regan, was second fastest overall behind Norway's Alexander Dale Oen, the Beijing silver medallist and European champion.

The New Zealander was not able to produce another relaxed performance in the semifinal, tying up over the final 15m to finish 13th fastest in 1:00.59 to miss out on the final.

While disappointed to miss out on the final tomorrow, Synders was buoyed by his performances.

"To be honest it felt pretty good this morning and quite relaxed," Snyders said.

"I'm a bit disappointed not to make it to the final. That was my goal. Tonight it didn't feel as comfortable and relaxed as the morning. Breaststroke is almost a feel stroke and tonight I didn't feel it."

In other swims, Sophia Batchelor (Christchurch) was 39th fastest in heats of the 100m butterfly and Dylan Dunlop-Barrett (Taranaki) 30th in the 400m freestyle, in their first swims in the world long course championships.

Teammate Daniel Bell was 30th fastest just outside his best in heats of the 50m butterfly, a warm-up swim for his backstroke later in the meet.

The women's 4x100m freestyle relay team, without star sprinter Hayley Palmer who withdrew earlier in the week with illness, were 14th fastest in their heat.

- NZPA