Melissa Ingram broke a national record to progress to the Olympic semifinals, but there was disappointment for New Zealand swimming hero Moss Burmester last night.
Ingram, 23, finished third in her heat behind Zimbabwe's Kirsty Coventry, in 2min 09.34sec which took 0.27 off her national record set at
the trials in March.
She'd previously cut more than 2sec off Anna Simcic's record which had stood for two decades.
"I'm really happy with that, a PB and a NZ record," she said.
"I've been training very well and done a lot of hard work so I think all that's just paying off.
"Another PB (tomorrow) would be fantastic and if that's enough to get me in the final that'd be great, hopefully keep on improving."
Burmester, meanwhile, farewelled the Water Cube pool, scene of his gutbusting fourth to American superstar Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly, when he was only 32nd fastest in the 100m heats.
He was 0.33sec outside his personal best to record 52.67, well off the semifinal cutoff.
He wasn't the same today in the shorter event, beginning slowly in heat six and struggling to kick strongly in the final leg.
"Pretty disappointed. I ended up forcing it way too much," Burmester said.
"Going from the 200m where you're just a bit more relaxed than this where it's shorter, you give it absolutely everything but you can't force it. It's just what I did. It takes a bit of practice."
He admitted yesterday's effort took its toll, after he led Phelps at the 50m mark on world record pace.
"It was pretty tough yesterday afterwards, a few ups and down but I should have been capable of easily going through to the semis here. Not good."
- NZPA
* Video courtesy of Television New Zealand www.tvnz.co.nz/beijing2008
