KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's Dean Kent was predictably left in the wake of American superstar Michael Phelps at the world swimming championships in Melbourne last night.
Phelps set his third world record within 48 hours to collect the gold medal in the 200m individual medley final.
Kent, the 2006 Commonwealth Games silver medallist, could barely keep up and finished eighth and last in a time of 2m 00.73s.
That was slower than his qualifying time and considerably behind the remarkable Phelps, who recorded a stunning 1m 54.98s to better his own world mark by almost 1s.
Kent was just the second New Zealander to advance to a final at the meet, after Moss Burmester registered an outstanding fourth placing in the men's 200m butterfly won in world record time by American star Michael Phelps on Wedenesday night.
Earlier yesterday, New Zealand qualified a second relay team for next year's Olympic Games.
The quartet of Helen Norfolk, Lauren Boyle, Alison Fitch and Melissa Ingram finished outside their medal-winning time in the 4x200m freestyle relay set at the 2006 Commonwealth Games to miss out on last night's final.
But their time of 8m 4.34s was the 10th fastest, with the top 12 teams gaining automatic qualification for the Olympics in Beijing.
The women's 4x100m freestyle relay team had finished 12th on Sunday to book a berth in Beijing.
Teenage breaststrokers Annabelle Carey and Glenn Snyders missed out on qualifying for the semifinals in the 200m, both finishing just outside their best times.
- NZPA
