KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand men's relay team again dipped under a world record at the world lifesaving championships in Germany today, only to be thwarted by China.
After qualifying for the final of the 4x50m medley relay in sixth place, Glenn Anderson, Michael Buck, Andy McMillan and Steve Kent rejigged their order in the final to finish in one minute, 31.26 seconds, a day after beating the world mark in the 4x50m obstacle relay.
It was a five-seconds improvement on their heat time and would have been good enough to beat the old world mark 1min 32.01sec set by the United States team earlier this year but for the flying Chinese who clocked 1min 29.66sec.
"We mixed it up in that final relay and the boys pulled through - we dipped under the old world record again but the Chinese came out of no where and smashed it," Anderson said.
It was the New Zealand captain's second silver medal of the day after twice breaking his own national record in the 200m super lifesaver, helping his team maintain a healthy lead in the championships.
New Zealand remain in front of Italy and Australia after two days, although the Europeans aren't expected to feature once the championships move to the beach arena this weekend.
Italian Germano Proietti headed Anderson in the super lifesaver despite the 28-year-old Kiwi, competing in his fourth world championships, taking more than 2secs off his national record to finish the final in 2min 14.37sec, with teammate Michael Buck seventh in 2min 29.14sec.
New Zealand's other medal of the day went to Christchurch's Julia Toomey, who was third in the 200m manikin carry with fins, clocking 1min 01.11sec. Younger sister, Georgina, was fifth in 1min 02.33sec, securing valuable points for the team.
New Zealand had three other finalists on the second day, with Chelsea Maples and Ayla Dunlop-Barrett fifth in the women's line throw, Kent seventh in the men's 200m manikin carry and the women's relay team fifth in the 4x50m medley.
Tomorrow's final day of pool action will feature the 100m rescue medley, 200m manikin relay and the SERC (Simulated Emergency Rescue Competition) before the championships switch to the Baltic Sea resort of Warnemuende for the beach events.
- NZPA
