Swimming: Two qualify for world champs

Sydney Olympians Dean Kent and Helen Norfolk became the first New Zealand swimmers to qualify for the world championships on the second day of the nationals in Invercargill last night.

Kent (North Shore) broke his own New Zealand record to win the men's 200m individual medley, clocking 2m 3.36s - 1.30s inside his previous mark set last year.

The 22-year-old had already qualified in the 400m medley, scoring 958 points on the Fina system.

Kent also won the 100m breaststroke title in the absence of clubmate and titleholder Steven Ferguson, who is concentrating on freestyle at the championships.

Norfolk (Aqua Gym) was all class in winning the 400m individual medley by 20m in 4m 50.16s, 0.01s inside the qualifying time for the world championships.

The Canterbury swimmer managed the back-up time needed for July's world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, after setting the initial qualifying time at last year's Sydney Olympics.

One who was not so lucky was former Ashburton swimmer Karen Tait, now swimming in Duncan Laing's Neptune team in Dunedin.

She followed her victory in the 200m freestyle on Saturday night with a superb performance to win the 400m freestyle in 4m 16.60s, a significant personal best but 0.3s outside the qualifying time for the world championships.

It proved another successful night for the strong Neptune and North Shore squads, winning seven of the nine individual titles on offer last night.

Tait's win was backed by her Otago team-mates Liz Van Welie, Jonathan Duncan and Scott Cameron.

Van Welie, who ran a close second to Tait in the 400m freestyle, flew home to win the 100m butterfly after turning in fourth place after 50m.

Duncan was again in a class of his own in distance freestyle, clocking 8m 14.56s to win the 800m, 7s inside the time he set in winning the event last year.

Cameron surprised in winning the 100m freestyle, upsetting North Shore's Nick Sheeran and top qualifier Ferguson, who led at the 50m mark.

North Shore's other win went to 19-year-old Hannah McLean in the 200m backstroke, edging out 15-year-old clubmate Melissa Ingram, who set a new national age-group record.

The other individual title went to Tauranga's Moss Burmester, who claimed his first national title when he came from a length down at the final turn to edge out national titleholder Sheeran in the 200m butterfly.

- NZPA