Ingram continues record-breaking streak

New Zealand swimmer Melissa Ingram continued her record-breaking blitz on the second day of the Queensland State Championships at the Chandler Centre in Brisbane.

Having broken the New Zealand record in the heats of the women's 400m freestyle yesterday morning with a time of four minutes 11.57 seconds, Ingram went on to smash that time in the afternoon's finals, finishing in four minutes 9.64 seconds.

She finished second behind Western Australian Blair Evans, but was well under the mark set for qualification for next year's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

"It was a terrific performance from Melissa and also a real confidence boost for her," Swimming New Zealand's Jan Cameron said.

"After time out of the pool when she missed out on the world championships, Melissa has come back so enthusiastic and has worked exceptionally fast. So it's good for her to swim so fast at this stage."

Yesterday's performance follows a strong streak at the championships for Ingram, who also broke the national record in the 200m freestyle and went under the times for New Delhi in this event and the 100m backstroke on Sunday.

Earlier yesterday, fellow North Shore swimmer Hayley Palmer finished fourth in the final of the 50m freestyle, just behind Beijing medallist Sophie Edington, clocking 25.56 seconds.

Glenn Snyders finished third in the 100m breaststroke with a solid one minute 3.20 seconds, while Daniel Bell was only a second outside the Commonwealth Games qualifying mark with a personal best two minutes 2.46 seconds in the final of the 200m individual medley, finishing second to Queensland's Daniel Lester.

Natalie Wiegersma, who finished between Australian Olympic gold medallists Emily Seebohm and Stephanie Rice in two minutes 15.68 seconds, was also a second outside the Delhi mark.

- NZPA