Swimming: Auckland schoolboy tastes the big time

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Auckland schoolboy Corney Swanepoel will not have to wait long for his first taste of the big time when the world championships start in Barcelona tomorrow.

The Rangitoto College 17-year-old lines up in the heats of the 50m butterfly - the fourth event at the championships, which have attracted 2300 swimmers from 157 countries.

"The atmosphere is fantastic," New Zealand coach Jan Cameron said last night. "All the best swimmers in the world are here."

The championships will be contested in a portable pool adjacent to the pool in which Danyon Loader won silver at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

"They are using something like a Para Pool," Cameron said. "They have dropped it into the centre of a huge basketball stadium. Unfortunately, there have been problems getting the pool square, which means they have not been able to get the lanes true yet."

Swanepoel is ranked 18th, but Cameron is confident he can make the top 16 needed to contest the semifinals on Monday.

"The 50m will be tough for him. It is an event which favours the older, stronger swimmers. He will do better in the 100m."

Other New Zealanders in action on the opening day include Otago's Liz van Welie in the 200m individual medley, in which she is ranked just outside the top 20.

This swim is seen as a good lead-in to her favoured 400m individual medley in which she is ranked 10th - the highest of any New Zealand swimmer at the championships.

Cameron remains confident that most of her charges can reach the top 16, but the emphasis remains on Thursday's 4x200m women's freestyle relay in which the New Zealanders are ranked 13th.

They need to improve just one place to ensure a spot at next year's Olympics.

"We believe we can do even better than that," Cameron said. "We think we can make the final."