KEY POINTS:
New Zealand swimmer Moss Burmester produced a record-beating personal best time to finish fourth in the 200m butterfly final at the world championships in Melbourne last night.
Burmester clocked a New Zealand record time of 1m 55.35s behind American Michael Phelps, who split the eight-strong field to post a world record 1m 52.09s.
Burmester, 25 and a gold medallist in the same discipline at last year's Commonwealth Games, entered the final having registered a New Zealand record 1m 56.27s in Tuesday's semifinals.
He targeted a sub-1m 56s swim last night, and got the time he wanted, if not a medal. He was in medal contention down the final stretch but was pipped by Russian Nikolay Skvortsov, who claimed bronze in 1m 55.22s. The silver went to China's Peng Wu.
Burmester became the first New Zealander to dip under the 1m 56s barrier after swimming at a controlled pace, turning at the 100m in sixth place as the rest of the field got caught up in the mind-boggling pace set by Phelps.
As Phelps powered away to his world record, Burmester powered his way over the final 50m with his final lunge nearly accounting for Skvortsov.
New Zealand head coach Jan Cameron said: "That was simply amazing. We have always believed that Moss had a 1m 55s in him and he did his own thing, stuck to his own plan and has taken a huge step up in world performance."
Burmester would have become only the fifth New Zealander - after Anthony Mosse, Gary Hurring, Danyon Loader and Trent Bray - to win a medal at the world championships. Phelps decimated the field to set his second world record in as many nights.
Phelps wiped 1.62s off the previous record of 1m 53.71s which he set in the United States last month.
He is in brilliant form, having broken Australian Ian Thorpe's 200m freestyle world record on Tuesday night.
Phelps has five more events to go at this meet and is a likely gold medallist in every event bar the 100m butterfly against world record holder Ian Crocker.
New Zealand's Hannah McLean finished seventh in her semifinal of the women's 50m backstroke with a time of 29.22s.
Her semifinal was won by Aliaksandra Herasimenia, of Belarus, in 28.38s.
McLean's time earned her a ranking of 15th.
- NZPA
