Swimming: Women power into relay final

New Zealand swimmers qualified for their third final on the fifth day of heats at the world swimming championships in Shanghai.

The women's quartet of Lauren Boyle, Penny Marshall, Amaka Gessler and Tash Hind broke the New Zealand record they set in winning the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay, finishing as the eighth fastest qualifier for the final.

Earlier North Shore's Glenn Snyders qualified for the semifinals in the 200m breaststroke as the 10th fastest qualifier.

The disappointment came in the men's 200m backstroke where Wellington's Gareth Kean could not repeat his outstanding performances from the 100m to miss qualification for the semifinals.

Fellow Capital club swimmer Hind missed out on qualifying in heats of the 100m but returned to swim superbly as the anchor in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay.

New Zealand's performance in the relay has earned them an invitation for next year's Olympics with a second qualifying time required at the trials next March to secure a berth for London.

The time of seven minutes, 57.15 seconds for the quartet was inside the previous record they set in Delhi, and was set up with a brilliant lead-off swim from Boyle.

The outstanding North Shore club swimmer was second fastest after her opening leg, clocking 1m 57.74s, which was just 2/100ths off the national 200m freestyle record she set two days ago in the individual event.

It was bettered only by the Americans who raced away to establish the fastest qualifying time of 7m 50.66s, from the fast improving Canada who closed with a stunning 1m 56.89s from Barbara Jardin.

The New Zealand performance was supported with a 2m 00.68s from Marshall, 1m 59.67s from Gessler and 1m 59.06s from Hind.

Snyders made it three straight semifinal qualifications in the breaststroke disciplines when he was the 10th fastest qualifier in yesterday morning's heats. The North Shore swimmer clocked 2m 12.38s which was half a second faster than his season best and considerably faster than his time in the finals at the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

- NZPA