Aquatics: Double Games delight for versatile van Welie

By PETER JESSUP

Liz van Welie was the last to book her ticket to Manchester when the national championships wound up in Auckland last night, pushing herself in an attempt to help Otago friend Helen Norfolk.

Van Welie, aged 22, competed in the 400m individual medley after winning the 200m butterfly. She won both, bettering Commonwealth Games qualifying times in both. Norfolk missed out.

But that spirit is the sort of thing national coaching director Clive Rushton looks for and, he said, it would make Swimming New Zealand consider pushing for relay teams.

"The camaraderie within provincial teams has produced some really good times and we'd like to build on that."

Van Welie makes it nine competitors for Manchester. German-based freestyle sprinter Vivienne Rignall, who was competing in Vienna overnight, is the only other realistic addition. She has a meet in Athens in a fortnight and then the German nationals at which she can better the required 25 seconds flat in 50m before the qualifying deadline of May 31.

The only other realistic chance is Alison Fitch, who went close to everything and got nothing in the 50/100/200m freestyle.

There is a grand prix meet in Cairns in a fortnight that several of the squad may travel to and Fitch's last chance would be Vancouver, should she decide to go for it.

Rushton labelled medley swimmer Dean Kent the only real medal chance at this stage.

He said the task for him and the coaches he supervises was to lift the young qualifiers to make finals, then lift them again, all in 14 weeks.

Swimming New Zealand has filmed all the elite swimmers' races with a bank of five cameras, and statistics analysts are working overnight and throughout the week to produce minute measurement and assessment of their performances. The data will be compared with that from world championships so the coaches and athletes know exactly where they are and whether it is starts, turns, or mid-pool technique that requires work.

"The ones who have qualified have impressed me with their total commitment," Rushton said, citing backstroker Hannah McLean, who won all three finals in Games-qualifying times.

The squad assembles in Auckland on July 9 for final training at the Millennium Institute.

The swimmers will then compete in Los Angeles before flying to England, where the Games open on July 25 and swimming events start on July 30.

After his first six months in the job of resurrecting New Zealand swimming, Rushton rated the top-level coaches and athletes well but was concerned no one was pushing them.

"The lack of depth is a worry and that's something you can't address overnight - it's a result of programmes that were in place six or eight years ago and it's going to take that long to fix it."

One of the best efforts he saw during the week was a near-miss in butterfly by West Aucklander Kelly Newcombe, aged 14. "She looks to me like the real thing."