KEY POINTS:
Veteran Dean Kent notched a record 11th consecutive national title while his teammates Helen Norfolk and Glenn Snyders again went under the Beijing Olympics qualifying times in the finals on day two of the New Zealand Olympic Trials in Auckland today.
Kent took out the 400m individual medley today to beat the previous mark of 10 straight national titles in the event by Dave Gerrard.
The North Shore swimmer clocked four minutes 26.39 seconds to win comfortably and although outside the Olympic qualifying time, Kent was upbeat about his chances in his target event, the 200m individual medley later in the meet.
Norfolk and Snyders took out the national titles and again went under the Beijing Olympic qualifying marks, although both were marginally outside their record setting times in last night's heats.
Kent said he never thought he could qualify in the 400m medley.
"Today was about 150m too far for me. It would have taken something incredible for me to qualify in that event as I have been working on my speed," Kent said.
"The 400 is a totally different event. I've trained specifically for the 200 and tried to swim the 400 but you can't do it the other way around."
However, the 29-year-old was delighted to have set a record 11 straight wins in the event.
"It's pretty special for me to have won 11 in a row and break the record of Dave Gerrard who won 10.
"My first win was in this pool and I won by 0.05 of a second and I have not really looked back ever since.
"It's been wonderful to be able to represent my country in the 400 individual medley and swim my heart out."
Kent believes he is in good shape for the meet.
"I'm looking forward to the 200 and hopefully to produce a really special time.
"My aim is to break two minutes and be the first New Zealander to do so. Hopefully that will be something competitive to set me up for the Olympics."
Norfolk clocked 4min 42.56sec to win the women's 400m individual medley, again going under the Fina A time for Beijing by nearly three seconds.
It was just over two seconds outside her new national record set last night.
"It's back to the hard work now and get much faster for the Olympics," Norfolk said.
"I've been stuck on 4:44 for like four years now so a personal best was definitely in the making," Norfolk said.
"I wanted to go two seconds faster today but it did not quite happen for me. I know I can go faster than today - there's still heaps of improvement to go."
Snyders took out the 100m breaststroke in 1min 0.84sec, 0.3sec outside the New Zealand record he set last night but he was an emphatic winner and nearly one second inside the Beijing qualifying time.
Rotorua's Kane Radford set himself up well for his major aim of the 1500m freestyle after winning the 400m title easily..
He was just outside his best, clocking 3min 59.58sec to finish clear of Cameron Burrows (Howick Pakuranga) and Dylan Dunlop-Barrett (Bell Block).
The small Taranaki club of Bell Block recorded its first national championship title when Charlotte Webby won the 100m butterfly, edging out Sally Green (SwimZone, Wellington) and Natalie Wiegersma (Southland) with only 0.2sec covering the first three.
- NZPA
