Burmester tops qualifiers

World swimming short course butterfly champion Moss Burmester showed his class to top qualifiers in 400m freestyle on the third morning of heats at the national championships in Christchurch today.

Burmester clocked a solid time of three minutes 53.34 seconds to better the field in the heats.

He finished clear of fellow world championships teammate Michael Jack, of West Auckland, and Taranaki teenager Dylan Dunlop-Barrett ahead of tonight's finals.

Auckland's Melissa Ingram marked her return to top level competition by posting the second fastest time in the heats of the 200m backstroke behind North Shore's Jessie Blundell.

In other heats, Wellington's John Gatfield was the fastest in the 50m backstroke and the 200m individual medley while the Neptune club pairing from Dunedin, Katie Kenneally and Matthew Glassford, topped the times in the 100m and 200m breaststroke respectively.

Olympian Hayley Palmer impressed as the fastest in the 50m freestyle in 25.08sec, 6/10ths of a second outside her national record, while Samantha Lucie-Smith was the quickest in the 400m individual medley heats.

- NZPA