KEY POINTS:
New Zealand Olympic swimming coach Jan Cameron believes her team is on target to make a splash at Beijing.
She is buoyed by performances in a three-day grand prix meeting that ended in Sydney yesterday.
The entire squad performed within the targets set by Cameron and coach Thomas Ansorg and all managed to improve from their heats to the finals.
Cameron said it was invaluable racing against Australian opposition.
"Most importantly we worked meticulously on our protocols in recovery and pre-race with this meet run under the same format as Beijing with heats at night and finals in the morning."
Cameron said she was surprised with the number of excellent times recorded by her swimmers.
"We know we are on schedule, although there are things to tweak and some very intensive work to do in the next three weeks, especially on our skills at starts and turns."
One New Zealand record was set on the final day, by Liz Coster, who edged under her own mark by clocking 28.72s in finishing behind world champion Sophie Edington in the final of the Monaco 50m backstroke.
She also finished third in the 100m backstroke in 1m 01.47s, just ahead of 200m specialist Melissa Ingram.
Corney Swanepoel was third, just ahead of 200m winner Moss Burmester in the 100m butterfly final when they clocked 52.94s and 53.01s respectively.
Glenn Snyders completed a heavy workload when narrowly pipped by Beijing medal contender Brenton Rickard in the final of the Monaco elimination 50m breaststroke and was third in the 100m final.
Hayley Palmer made it through to the semifinals of the Monaco 50m freestyle in a very solid 25.78s, 3/10 sec outside her national record, and finished fourth in the 100m.
An ill Lauren Boyle finished 12th in the 100m freestyle.
Helen Norfolk was third in the 400m individual medley in her second fastest time of 4m 45.03s in a race won by world champion Stephanie Rice while Dean Kent posted 2m 03.81s in the 200m individual medley.
- NZPA
