Swimming: Squad for Delhi swells by two

Hayley Palmer, who won the 100m freestyle yesterday, wants to shave 1.5s off her time for the Commonwealth Games. Photo / Natalie Slade

The Commonwealth Games swim squad grew by two last night as Glenn Snyders and Hayley Palmer went under the qualifying times set for Delhi.

Six swimmers have qualified for the Games in October.

Birthday boy Snyders was the first under the bar at the New Zealand Open Championships in West Auckland, winning the 100m breaststroke in 1m 01.56s, 0.18s under the qualifying time.

It was considerably slower than the time he had set in heats and, while relieved to have booked a seat on the plane, Snyders admitted it was a slightly disappointing swim.

"I went in with a lot of confidence ... I didn't swim it too good, but I qualified so I'm happy," he said.

"The breakout after the dive, I think that unnerved me a little bit. The last 50m coming home, I just didn't have enough in the tank. I'll have to have a watch of the race and see what happened."

Palmer, who turns 21 next month, was more upbeat about her showing, which saw her clock 55.17s in the 100m free, 0.16s under the qualifying time.

Like Snyders, she had swum faster in the morning and said that changed the way she approached last night's final.

"It changes the logistics of things," Palmer said. "Part of me was thinking, 'I've already done it, I can step back,' but the other part was thinking I needed to step up and do a good job. I think I probably got a bit of both in that race, but it felt good.

"In the first 50m I could have been a bit faster, a bit smoother. I didn't feel brilliant ... but there's a lot of positives to come out of that race."

Palmer said the goal between now and October was to trim 1.5s off her time, to make her a realistic medal prospect.

"I've got to be going close to the 53's ... if I want to be competitive with the Aussies and the Brits."

There was disappointment in the men's 100m butterfly, where Moss Burmester and Corney Swanepoel failed to go under the qualifying time of 52.86s. Burmester has already qualified in his favoured 200m butterfly, but two-time Olympian Swanepoel has no such luxury.

The North Shore swimmer has been battling illness this week and his only chance of going to Delhi now lies in the 50m tomorrow, but the qualifying time is tough.

Emily Thomas narrowly missed qualifying but received considerable consolation in setting a national record for the 50m backstroke, winning in 28.39s.

A feature of the meet has been the absence of personal bests among the top swimmers, due mainly to the banning of the high-tech swimsuits that had dominated the sport in the past two years.

"It's a reality of the sport that technology will have its way and when you take it away things are going to be different," Palmer said.

"This year is a transition period for everyone, trying to get used to racing without the suits, getting back to the basics and showing what swimming is all about - the talent and hard work ethic."