KEY POINTS:
North Shore backstroke pair Liz Coster and Melissa Ingram cemented their Beijing claims with qualifying performances in finals on the third day of the New Zealand Olympic trials at Waitakere City yesterday.
Coster edged Ingram to claim the 100m backstroke title and both again went under the Olympic qualifying mark to repeat their efforts from the heats the night before.
This brings the total to four swimmers who have met the International Swimming Federation's (FINA) A standard.
West Auckland sprinter Mark Herring also signalled his intentions in breaking the New Zealand 100m freestyle record as the lead-off swimmer in the freestyle relay yesterday.
His time of 49.54s was nearly 4/10ths of a second off the previous mark set by Cameron Gibson at last year's world championships. It was still 3/10ths off the qualifying mark for Beijing, but sets up a real battle for the upcoming 100m freestyle final and the spot in the relays.
Coster was delighted to win the 100m backstroke title and go under the Beijing mark but was disappointed with her swim, as she chased a time close to the magical one minute barrier.
"I did not quite put it together as I wanted because I was chasing an even faster time today. I was quite excited after the swim last night and had some trouble sleeping. But I got the job done. I did what I needed to do to qualify and now I can concentrate on the hard work ahead to improve even further for Beijing."
Coster said she had no problems with her new racing suit after the zip broke before last night's heat. "The new suits are great and feel fantastic. But in the end it comes down to the swimmers."
She clocked 1m 01.43s with Ingram 2/10ths of a second behind but pleased with her swim.
Ingram said: "My main aim is the 200m backstroke so I was really pleased with that swim. It felt great and I'm looking forward to that event." Helen Norfolk, who won the 400m freestyle from West Auckland's Lauren Boyle in 4m 13.50s, said "I am continuing to work hard on my freestyle and hopefully it will have a good effect on my medley time tonight."
Young West Auckland swimmer Daniel Bell impressed to win the 100m backstroke title in a battle against Kurt Bassett (Laser Mt Eden) and John Zulch (North Shore) winning in 55.63s, an age group national record.
It sets Bell up with the inside running for the backstroke place in the medley relay team, if they qualify for Beijing.
In other events, Michael Jack (West Auckland Aquatics) won the 200m freestyle in 1m 52.93s, Glenn Snyders (North Shore) took out the 50m breaststroke and Christchurch's Amaka Gessler (Aquagym) won the 50m butterfly.
- NZPA
