KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand surf lifesaving team have made a brilliant start to the German Cup pool championships in Germany, setting a new world record and smashing a number of national marks.
Team captain Glenn Anderson led his 4x50m obstacle relay team to a new world mark of 1min 40.90secs as both the men's and women's relay teams swept the highly rated European and Australian swimming aside.
It's New Zealand's first world record since Trent Bray's remarkable 200m super lifesaver swim set in Auckland in January, 1998. It beat the existing mark set by the German national team at last year's world championships in Australia by 0.6secs.
"It was a brilliant swim - the guys just completely clicked and blew the rest of the field away," New Zealand coach Scott Bartlett said from Warendorf, Germany.
"It was a great day at the office all round and this record was just the icing on the cake, really."
The eight-strong team, competing at the German Cup for the first time, set six new national records in total, including in all four relays.
Wellington's Natasha Hind set a new 200m obstacle swim record, winning in 2:13.05, while Mairangi Bay's Michael Buck finished third in the 50m manikin carry in a new record of 31.75.
Anderson also finished second in the 200m obstacle swim in 1:58.40, with Buck a second adrift in third, while Hind was elevated to second in the 50m manikin carry in 37.34, after Georgina Toomey was disqualified.
The men's relay team of Anderson, Buck, Hawke's Bay's Callum Joll and Wellington's Steven Kent added to the world record with a superb manikin relay, finishing in 1:15.37.
Hind, Georgina and Julia Toomey and Ayla Dunlop-Barrett also combined to set new national marks in the 4x50m obstacle relay (1:55.50) and the manikin relay.
New Zealand leads the points table going into the final day's competition in Germany, ahead of the hosts and well ahead of arch-rivals Australia.
Three members of the team - Buck, Hind and Anderson - will fly back into Sydney next week to join the national beach team for the International Surf Challenge in Bondi.
- NZPA
