Swimming: second record, still no finals

Swimmer Dean Kent followed in the wake of Helen Norfolk on Sunday, breaking the New Zealand 400m individual medley record without doing enough to make the Olympic final.

Kent clocked 4min 21.81sec in his heat, erasing his own 4min 22.30sec mark from the books.

In doing so he lifted himself from 21st in the world to 16th, but only eight go into the final.

On Saturday Norfolk broke her own New Zealand record, but failed to make the Olympic final when 13th fastest in the heats with a swim of 4min 46.42 sec.

Team coach Brett Naylor, who had expected Norfolk to go about three seconds faster, was frustrated when she was unable to put it all together on her big day.

``I think she's better than 4.46,'' Naylor said, putting the swim down to Norfolk over-trying through inexperience.

He said Kent could also have done better.

Kent, sixth in his heat, had taken the first leg of his backstroke and the freestyle too easily, Naylor said.

``He sort of falls into the Helen category. There are places where he can improve it, but he won't get the chance,'' he said.

Monique Robins, the youngest athlete in the New Zealand Olympic team, Jonathan Duncan and Scott Talbot-Cameron also raced on Sunday, all in back-up events.

None of them beat their personal bests, with Talbot-Cameron ruining a good 100m backstroke swim with a clumsy turn that Naylor estimated cost him a second.

``He absolutely mucked it up. He got so close he couldn't get his feet over, his back and his bum actually hit the wall,'' Naylor said.

``It shouldn't have happened.''

Talbot-Cameron swam 57.86sec, good for 37th.

Duncan was left trailing mighty Australian Ian Thorpe in the men's 200m freestyle. He was 32nd in 1min 53.27sec.

Thorpe lowered the Olympic record to 1min 46.56sec in his heat.

Robins was almost a second outside her best in the women's 100m backstroke, swimming 1min 4.52sec to miss the semifinals by nearly 1.5sec.

``She just didn't get on top of the water and get going,'' Naylor said.

It was Robins' first swim at the meet.

On Saturday breaststroker Steven Ferguson was 27th in the men's 100m heats, and Duncan 29th fastest in the 400m freestyle heats.

- NZPA