Swimming: Fastest time in world this year by Burmester in 200m butterfly

Moss Burmester is on top of the world after a superb performance to highlight the penultimate night of finals at the New Zealand Open Swim Championships in Christchurch last night.

Burmester (International Training Centre - North Shore) clocked a brilliant 1m 54.15s to break his own New Zealand record and set the fastest time in the world this year over his favoured 200m butterfly at the QE2 Leisure Centre.

It also proved a remarkable night for Auckland's Kurt Bassett, who after four months out of the sport, broke the New Zealand record to qualify for July's world championships.

Last year Bassett missed out on qualifying for the Beijing Olympics by an agonising 0.01s in the same event.

He and Beijing Olympian Hayley Palmer qualified for Rome last night, while Burmester added a third qualifying performance to make it seven swimmers through to the world championships in 12 events.

Burmester powered through the 100m in 1m 24.08s and pushed on with a superb solo display to win in 1m 54.15s, which broke his own Commonwealth record by 0.2s and was 0.3s faster than Nick D'Arcy's winning time in the recent Australian trials, to become the fastest in the world this year.

The 27-year-old, who qualified in the 100m butterfly and 400m freestyle, said he was confident after his performances in those events despite a long break after Beijing.

"I had a break of three months after Beijing and then decided to continue and set my sights on London. But I've only been back in the pool since Christmas," Burmester said.

"I have been doing some different work with my coach Thomas Ansorg and so this gives me some real heart.

"I had my fastest times in the 100m butterfly and the 400m freestyle so I knew I was in good form. That was really pleasing and I am pretty excited about focusing now on Rome."

It was also a night of celebration for Bassett. The 19-year-old

Mt Eden club swimmer produced a superb back end of his race, turning in 1m 28.00s and powering home in 1m 58.90s.