KEY POINTS:
New Zealand swimmer Moss Burmester missed the medals in his favoured 200m butterfly on the opening finals night at the World University Games in Bangkok on Thursday.
Burmester went out hard, leading at the 100m in a fast 55.08 seconds, and was still leading at the 150m turn in 1 minute 25.57 seconds.
But he faded in the final 50m and finished fifth, the same position in which he qualified for the final.
The race was won by Ryusake Sakata of Japan in 1:55.92.
New Zealand's only other appearance in the A finals was in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay team.
The team of Helen Norfolk, Liz Coster, Melissa Ingram and Te Rina Taite qualified fifth in 3:46.64 but were nearly two seconds slower in the final and finished eighth in a race won by the United States.
Among the B finalists, Glenn Snyders broke Dean Kent's New Zealand 200m breaststroke record, clocking 2:15.60 to finish second in the B final.
John Zulch was seventh in the B final of the 200m backstroke in 2:03.44 and Andrew McMillan was eighth in the B final of the 200m butterfly.
Earlier in the day, Sarah Vettoretti and Taite were 35th and 36th fastest respectively in the 50m breaststroke, and Cameron Stanley finished eighth in his 200m backstroke heat.
Day 1 finals results:
200m butterfly: Ryusake Sakata (Japan) 1:55.92 1; Yin Chen (China) 1:56.59 2; Daniel Madwed (USA) 1:57.16 3. MOSS BURMESTER (NEW ZEALAND) 1:58.13 5.
4x100m freestyle relay: USA 3:40.85 1; China 3:41.38 2; Germany 3:42.68 3; NEW ZEALAND (HELEN NORFOLK, LIZ COSTER, MELISSA INGRAM, TE RINA TAITE) 3:48.27 8.
- NZPA
