Swimming: Kent top Kiwi in Olympic swim-off

SYDNEY - Medley swimmer Dean Kent turned in the best performance of the New Zealanders in action at the Australian Olympic swimming trials in Sydney yesterday, clocking the fifth-best time of the 54 competitors in the heats.

Kent finished in 2m 05.21s for the men's 200m individual medley, but with the ban on non-Australians competing in the later stages of the event, he will not go on to the semifinals.

The time was outside the New Zealand Olympic qualifying standard of 2m 04.20s, but national coach Brett Naylor described Kent's effort as "solid."

"Dean's consistently holding around that Olympic standard," he said.

Kent has twice gone under the Games standard for the 400m individual medley.

In the women's 100m freestyle, Monique Robins was 13th fastest among the 82 swimmers in the heats with a time of 57.28s.

Naylor said Robins, in her determination to go under the qualifying mark of 56.60s, went out too quickly in the first 25m and paid the price later on.

Other New Zealanders in the top 25 were Lara McCambridge and Toni Jeffs, who were equal 17th with a time of 57.80s, and Alison Fitch, who was 24th at 58.26s.

In the men's 200m backstroke, Scott Talbot-Cameron had the 11th-quickest time of 2m 05.49s.

Naylor said the amount of recent competition by the New Zealanders was beginning to take its toll.

"Some of them have come out of four major meets and they are losing their form," he said.

-NZPA

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