Swimming: World record within Kent's grasp, says coach

Dean Kent has emerged as a swimmer of genuine world class and even has a world record within his grasp, says national coaching director Clive Rushton.

The Auckland all-rounder continued his blistering form in the short-course pools of Europe yesterday, winning gold in the 400m individual medley at Berlin, Germany.

He has recorded a clean sweep over the distance in all three World Cup short-course meetings this month.

However, most stunning was his time of 4m 06.66s, the sixth-quickest in history.

It is easily the fastest by any short-course (25m pool) swimmer in the world this year and Rushton said it could be regarded as a positive sign ahead of the long-course world championships in Barcelona in July.

"This is a fantastic indicator of what he could do later on," said Rushton, who added that the world short-course record of 4m 04.2s was now a realistic target for Kent.

"He's closing in on that. Before this weekend his best was 4m 09s. He actually dropped a bigger amount in that one race than he will have to to break the world record."

Rushton was not completely surprised at Kent's dramatic improvement, believing the 24-year-old has immense natural ability, mixed with a dedicated training ethic.

"He tends to swim very well at this time of year, he did last year," Rushton said.

"Part of the programme is deliberately geared to bringing out performances at this time."

Kent was to race the 200m individual medley in Berlin today and he is due back in New Zealand late this week.

He is likely to complete three weeks of hard training before racing at the North Island championships in Auckland, in a return to long- course racing.

The national open championships in April is the qualifying meet for the world championships, which will be Kent's major target this year.

Rushton said it was unlikely Kent would produce more world-class times until the Barcelona meet.

"Because of the phasing of the work coming up, you wouldn't expect him to be able to repeat this standard of performance every couple of weeks," he said.

"But I think he would be looking to be very fast in April.

"He won't back off just because it's New Zealand and he's pretty much guaranteed a win.

"He'll try and nail it every time."

Rushton denied that Kent could be regarded as a specialist short-course swimmer.

In 2001, Kent's long-course results were far better.

Illness affected his hopes for success at last year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Argentina's Jose Meolans upset favourites Pieter van den Hoogenband, of the Netherlands, and Australian Ian Thorpe to win the 100m freestyle.

Van den Hoogenband, the Olympic champion, took second place in the showcase event in 47.37s, behind Meolans' winning time of 47.32s.

Thorpe, who won six gold medals at last year's Commonwealth Games, was fourth in 47.55s.

"It's a great win for me," said Meolans, who got a superb start and held a narrowing lead for the distance.

He was clearly delighted by his surprise victory over van den Hoogenband and Thorpe, two of the biggest names in swimming.

"They are both excellent swimmers and I knew it would be very close with such a top field," said Meolans, last year's world short-course champion over 50m and silver medallist in the 100m.

"It's a very good moment for me. I'm still surprised that I won."

Van den Hoogenband, who took gold medals in the 100m and 200m at the same Berlin pool at last year's European championship, appeared stunned by the rare defeat in his favourite event.

After receiving the silver medal, he quickly tossed it into the sell-out crowd of 2500, where a pack of eager fans scrambled for it.

Thorpe and van den Hoogenband consoled each other with pats on the back before congratulating Meolans.

"It wasn't a very good day for me," said van den Hoogenband, who added that his main aim was to break 47s.

"I felt okay, but did not feel anything special. It wasn't anything super. And coming in second does not make me very happy at all."

In other races, Germany's Thomas Rupprath just missed lowering his world record of 50.58s in the 100m backstroke, winning the race in 50.76s.

Yana Klochkova, of Ukraine, won the women's 200m individual medley in 2m 8.44s, and Alison Sheppard, of Britain, won the 50m freestyle in 24.06s ahead of Sweden's world recordholder Therese Alshammar in second in 24.49s.

Maxim Podoprigora, of Austria, set a European record in the men's 200m breaststroke in 2m 06.95s, lowering his own record of 2m 07.47s.

Podoprigora came in second to Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, who won in 2m 06.32.


- NZPA