KEY POINTS:
Australian swimming world record-holder Marieke Guehrer showed her class on the opening morning of the New Zealand summer championships in Christchurch today.
Guehrer, who won overall honours at the recent short course World Cup circuit, topped qualifiers for the 50m butterfly and 100m freestyle.
New Zealand's Melissa Ingram, who was also prominent at the World Cups, cruised through the heats of the 200m backstroke ahead of Australian Grace Loh.
Veteran Dean Kent, who retired from international competition after Beijing, qualified second fastest behind West Auckland Olympian Daniel Bell in heats of the 100m individual medley.
"That was about as far as I could swim," Kent said.
"I decided three weeks ago to compete and got back into the pool for the first time, so it's a struggle that's for sure.
"I could not swim the 400m medley or I would probably sink."
World class butterfly exponent Moss Burmester eased back into competition over 200m, qualifying third fastest behind North Shore clubmates Andrew McMillan and Shaun Burnett.
"I've swum in one of my old, old suits because I thought it would be a battle to get into my new ones.
"I have put on some weight after Beijing and have only been back into serious training for about a month. This week is a bit of a hit out to get back into competition mode again and the hard work is all ahead of me."
The first session of finals is tonight.
- NZPA
