Swimming: Australia charge to titles

Australia dominated the final session of the Oceania swimming championships in Christchurch, winning eight of the 10 titles.

It left them with 26 titles for the meet to New Zealand's 12.

No other country won any gold medals.

The New Zealand Olympics squad claimed seven titles and a host of personal best times.

But the meeting probably witnessed the last top-flight swim from 24-year-old Danyon Loader.

The 1996 Atlanta double-gold medallist failed to qualify for the final of the 200m butterfly and he was unlikely to pursue late qualification in the Northern Hemisphere for the Olympics, said his coach, Duncan Laing.

Loader finished 10th fastest in the heats and could well retire from top competition.

Coach Brett Naylor was pleased with the efforts of his Olympics team, and encouraged by the emergence of several young New Zealanders.

In the final session, Oceania records fell to Australians Kelly Tucker in the 100m backstroke, Tammie Smith in the 800m freestyle and Heidi Crawford and Matthew Hall in the 200m butterfly.

New Zealand's last two titles went to Cameron Gibson and Jonathan Duncan.

Gibson, aged 17, stormed home from fifth place at the turn to win the men's 100m backstroke in a personal best time of 58.06s, while Duncan, 18, from Laing's Neptune club, powered through the field from fifth at the 800m mark to win the 1500m freestyle in impressive fashion for his second Oceania title.

Duncan's time was 15m 57.26s.

Toni Jeffs, of Wellington, will head to North America next week in a late bid for qualification for the Olympics buoyed by an improved performance in finishing second in the 50m freestyle in 26.61s, 0.64sec outside the Fina A games qualifying mark.

- NZPA