Swimming: Burmester through to semifinals

Moss Burmester provided the highlight for the New Zealand team on the third morning of heats at the world swimming championships in Montreal today (NZ time).

The 24-year-old North Shore swimmer has qualified for the semifinals of the gruelling 200m butterfly after winning his heat today.

Burmester won a competitive fourth heat where five swimmers won through to the final 16, clocking a handy one minute 58.30 seconds.

The New Zealander will need to go under his previous best of 1min 57.79sec and perhaps push Anthony Mosse's long standing record of 1min 57.27sec to ensure a place in the final.

Medley specialist Helen Norfolk and team captain Alison Fitch were close but missed out on qualifying for the semifinals in the 200m freestyle.

The North Shore pair both drew the same heat with Norfolk finishing second and Fitch third. Norfolk swam a personal best 2min 01.35sec with Fitch home in 2min 02.15sec.

Clubmate Glenn Snyders swam close to his best, clocking 29.19sec in the 50m breaststroke, but it was not good enough to advance him to the semifinals.

- NZPA