Swimming: Dean Kent leads NZ team

10.15pm - UPDATE

ATHENS - Dean Kent opened the New Zealand Olympic Games swimming campaign in style today, smashing his own national record in the 400m individual medley heats.

First in action for the swim team, Kent traded the lead in the butterfly, lost it on the backstroke, then opened a three second break on the breaststroke.

He sealed a heat victory and nailed the New Zealand record with a solid closing freestyle.

His four minute 18.55sec broke by .49sec the New Zealand record he set almost three years ago.

Kent, 25, was delighted with the swim, waving happily to the New Zealand contingent in the stands.

But he told NZPA he did not expect his time to be good enough to get him into the final.

Initial results put Kent at 13th fastest in the heats, with American hotshot Michael Phelps posting the top time of 4min 13.29sec.

To reach the eight-strong final Kent would have had to swum 4min 16.76sec.

Elizabeth Coster, 21, swam close to her New Zealand record finishing third in her 100m butterfly heat.

Coster was eliminated when 23rd fastest in the heats with 1min 00.61sec. Her best is of 1min 00.47sec.

Butterfly specialist Moss Burmester, 23, followed Kent's example by swimming a personal best in the 400m freestyle, his back up event.

Burmester told NZPA he was a little disappointed with his 3min 57.29sec, as he had wanted to go a second faster.

"It's all right," he said of the swim.

He also saw some positives in lowering his personal best from 3min 59.13sec, saying he remained confident his 200m butterfly was on track.

"My fly is feeling a lot better than my freestyle, that's my main aim anyway."

Burmester was second in his heat, and 28th fastest in a field headed by Australians Grant Hackett and Ian Thorpe.

Hackett qualified fastest, with his 3min 46.36sec bettering world record holder Thorpe by .19sec.

New Zealand swimmer Helen Norfolk failed to qualify for the 400m individual medley final, when she came fourth in her heat.

Norfolk picked up two places in the freestyle dash home, but felt she let herself down with a mistake on her final turn.

After targeting the New Zealand record set by Liz van Welie at the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Norfolk came up .65sec short with her 4min 45.21sec.

"It felt a bit faster than what it was," Norfolk told NZPA

"I'm happy because I'm absolutely dead so I must have tried my hardest, but I think there might have been some skills I need to work on a little bit more.

"I'm sure I lost it on the freestyle turn, and I'm quite sure my coach is going to tell me some other things, I could have worked on.

"When you get to Olympic level you shouldn't be having things that bad, so it's my own fault a little bit. I'm semi happy."

Norfolk had more cause to rue her poor turn when results put her ninth, one place away from being the first New Zealand swimming finalist since the 1996 Olympics.

Norfolk, 22, was denied a final berth by a mere six hundredths of a second, with Yoo-San Nam of Korea securing it in 4min 45.16sec.

Norfolk beat home 2004 world leader Kathryn Hoff of the United States, who battled home in 4min 47.26sec -- nearly 10sec below her best.

Ben Labowitch was third in his 100m breaststroke heat, in 1min 3.99sec.

Though his fastest time of the year, he was 36th fastest of 56 swimmers and only 16 qualified for the semifinals.

- NZPA