Swimming: All eyes on Loader and Bray

By PETER JESSUP

The focus will be firmly on Danyon Loader and Trent Bray when the national swim champs get under way at the Waitakere City Aquatic Centre in Henderson today.

Loader has a workload that suggests he has been putting in the hours in the pool and that he is focused on getting to Sydney. He will swim the 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle and the 100m butterfly.

The Atlanta double gold medallist has teamed up again with former coach Duncan Laing, driving from Christchurch to Dunedin a couple of times a week for Laing's tuition. It is what he has been doing in the intervening days that will show in the pool.

Bray has entered only the 50m and 100m freestyle, bypassing the 200m - the event in which he has excelled. Again, interest will centre on how his run-in with the drug testers has affected his buildup.

This is the second-to-last opportunity for swimmers to qualify for the Olympics in September. The Australian nationals - opened up to New Zealanders for heats only - is the last.

Four are so far confirmed: Steven Ferguson in the 100m breaststroke; Nikki Tanner in the 200m backstroke; Scott Talbot-Cameron in the 200m backstroke; and Helen Norfolk in the 400m medley.

National coach Brett Naylor is looking for them to confirm their form at Henderson.