KEY POINTS:
Adopted New Zealander Zoe Baker finished a battling sixth in the 50m breaststroke final at the world swimming championships in Melbourne last night.
Baker recorded a time of 31.79s in her bid to win a third medal at the championships during a long career.
A former world record holder, she won two bronzes for Great Britain before emigrating from England to begin racing for New Zealand in 2005.
Baker, 31, was always up against it and trailed the leaders from before the halfway mark.
The race was won by American Jessica Hardy in 30.63s followed by Australian Leisel Jones and bronze medallist Tara Kirk, of the United States.
Baker's effort was the second best performance by a New Zealander at the championships following the fourth placing by Moss Burmester in the 200m butterfly.
Dean Kent was the third New Zealander to make a final, finishing eighth in the 200m individual medley.
New Zealand qualified a third relay team for the Beijing Olympics after a controversial final session of heats yesterday.
The men's medley quartet of Cameron Gibson, Glenn Snyders, Corney Swanepoel and Mark Herring were the 11th fastest in the heats, narrowly missing out on a place in the final. But they were safely through as one of the top 12 for an automatic qualification for the 2008 Games in Beijing.
One team who still need to qualify are the top seeded United States, who were disqualified after butterfly exponent Ian Crocker was adjudged to have left the blocks too soon at the start of the third leg, derailing Michael Phelps' quest for eight gold medals at the championships.
Earlier, the women's 4x200m freestyle and 4x100m freestyle teams booked berths for Beijing.
Helen Norfolk surprised to be ninth fastest in the 400m medley. She was third in her heat behind Australian Stephanie Rice and China's Rui Yu in 4m 44.79s, 23/100ths outside Liz van Welie's national record.
- NZPA
