Swimming: Leslie favoured for worlds medley

Northland's Cameron Leslie is realistic about his world record chances at the 2013 IPC Swimming World Championships - they're probably nil. Will he win though? Absolutely, that's the goal.

World record holder Leslie will head to the IPC Swimming World Championships in Montreal, Canada, in August after qualifying in April and being named in the Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ) team yesterday.

Don't get him wrong - he's going to Canada to win.

"That's the goal. I'm not looking at a world record but I'm still looking at winning," he said.

Leslie's training programme for the next few years will incorporate Canada but will slowly build to what is ultimately a peak performance at the Brazil Paralympics in 2016.

Leslie, the Northern Advocate's sports editor, says most athletes are not in top shape after peaking for an event like the Paralympics.

The London (and Beijing) Paralympic champion will head to Canada a warm favourite for his 150m individual medley event, in a year which has been slightly more holistic than the single focus he required in 2012.

"This year has been more about maintaining body and mind and making that step from being a student into the working world."

Joining Leslie in the PNZ team are fellow Paralympic stars Sophie Pascoe and Mary Fisher.

The Canada-bound team is regarded as one of the strongest to head to a world champ event with six of the seven strong team having outstanding performances at the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

An exciting newcomer to the team is Jesse Reynolds.

At just 16 years of age, Jesse is looking to gain invaluable experience from this event.

The team will be led by new head swim performance coach Jon Shaw, who started in his role on May 20.

"We are very excited about this team as we believe we have a great depth of experience and enthusiasm," he said.

"This event will provide a great testing ground to see where our performances sit on the international stage. We believe we have a high chance of success following on from the results at the NZ Swimming Championships."

Paralympics New Zealand swimming team: Cameron Leslie, Whangarei; Daniel Holt, North Shore; Daniel Sharp, Hamilton/Auckland; Jesse Reynolds, Hamilton; Mary Fisher, Wellington; Nikita Howarth, Cambridge; Sophie Pascoe, Christchurch.