Aquatics: New Zealanders finish outside the medals

New Zealanders Jonathan Winter, Hannah McLean and Cameron Gibson made the Games finals today, although medals still remained elusive on the third day of competition.

Gibson and McLean came sixth and Winter seventh, leaving Moss Burmester's fourth in the 200m butterfly on the first night as New Zealand's best Games result so far.

In his specialist 200m backstroke event, Cameron Gibson swam 0.08sec below his personal best, clocking 2 minutes 2.00 seconds, after qualifying seventh fastest.

The towering 19 year-old student, standing nearly 2m tall, went out fast and was in fourth position after the first leg, but his normal quick finish eluded him. The Aucklander said he was disappointed with his final.

"It was pretty average. I was hoping to go around 2min 1sec," he said, adding that he was unable to pin down why he didn't swim faster.

The event was won by England's James Goddard in a time of 1min 59.83sec. Watching the race with the media was disgruntled world record holder Matt Welsh, who was controversially disqualified for moving on the blocks.

He disputed the judges decision, saying it was little different from the case of Jennifer Reilly who was today reinstated to second spot after being wrongly disqualified yesterday for an incorrect turn in a case of mistaken identity.

The Commonwealth Games organisation embarrassingly had to rerun the medal ceremony relegating Marianne Limpert of Canada to bronze. Compatriot Elizabeth Warden had her bronze replaced by a sportsmanship award.

Jonathan Winter was also disappointed with his seventh spot in his specialist event, the 50m butterfly. His time of 24.58sec was slower than his semifinal time of 24.40sec which was his personal best.

The event was won by Australia's world record holder Geoff Huegill in a time of 23.57sec.

Winter said he swallowed some water early in the race, and such mistakes were fatal in such a short race.

The 30 year-old, who made a comeback 10 months ago from a two-year retirement, said he still aimed to swim in the 2004 Athens Olympics. He said he had bettered his goal of swimming under 24.6sec.

Hannah McLean failed to improve on her sixth qualifying place in her main event, the women's 100m backstroke final. She finished in 1min 2.94sec, slower than the 1min 2.20sec she swim in the semifinal.

The 21 year-old Auckland student said that she had been nervous in her first Games and disappointed not to have improved her semifinal time.

"I'm just pleased to have swum as I did in the semis. I didn't quite get it right in the finals, but it's good to get up and swim like I have in my first Commonwealth Games.

She remained hopeful of an improved place in the 200m backstroke.

The event was won by England's Sarah Price in a new Commonwealth Games record of 1min 1.06sec.

Dunedin's Elizabeth van Welie did enough to make the semifinals of the 100m butterfly but failed to progress to the final, finishing 13th fastest. She said she was unimpressed with either her heat time of 1min 03.48sec or her semi time of 1min 3.55sec.

Both were almost a second outside her personal best and she admitted she already had one eye on her specialist 400m medley on Sunday.

"I just couldn't get going," she said.

The English fans at the Manchester Aquatic Centre were sent home happy when their 4X200m women's relay team pipped Australia, the first time Australia has been beaten since the event began in 1986.

In the morning, Burmester missed qualifying for the 100m freestyle semifinals by just two places, finishing seventh in a quick heat in a time of 53.21sec.

He said he was suffering from a similar throat complaint to that which affected his now recovered team-mate Dean Kent earlier in the week, but it wouldn't keep him out of the 100m butterfly tomorrow.

Australia's Ian Thorpe picked up his fourth gold in the men's 4X200m relay and set sail for his fifth, winning his 100m freestyle semifinal in 49.31sec, well outside the world time of 47.84sec.