Bobbi Gichard in action.
Hawke's Bay swimmer Bobbi Gichard last night missed out on qualifying for the Olympic Games 100m backstroke.
Competing in the final of the event at the New Zealand Open Championships in Auckland, Gichard, 16, finished second to Auckland United's Gabrielle Fa'amausili. Gichard, who now swims for the Howick Pakuranga club,
had to stop the clock at 1m00.40s to qualify for Rio.
Her time of 1m00.85s was .03 of a second slower than her winning heat time yesterday morning. Fa'amausili was .02 of a second faster than Gichard.
"Bobbi is a very disappointed young girl. Her first 50m was half a second slower than in the heat and that killed it for her," her former Greendale club coach Noel Hardgrave-Booth, who was among the spectators, said.
"She's got her 200 m backstroke tomorrow [today] and we've got high hopes she will qualify in that. I'm confident she will bounce back well in the final of the 200, but she never bounces back well in the heats of the 200 when they are staged the day after her 100 final," Hardgrave-Booth added.
