Swimming: Ingram signals intent

Melissa Ingram. Photo / Kenny Rodger

Melissa Ingram, one of this country's most experienced swimmers, has signalled her intentions with a strong performance in the heats at the New Zealand championships in Auckland.

Ingram, 25, was the top qualifier in the 100m backstroke heats today with a time of one minute 1.61 seconds, which is under the qualifying time for the world championships in Shanghai, China, in July.

The championships in Auckland double as the official trials for the world event.

Ingram, a former world short course medallist and double Olympian, will need to repeat that sort of time in the final tonight because world championships qualification is dependent on performances in the finals.

Her Commonwealth Games teammate Natalie Wiegersma, who qualified in winning the 200m individual medley last night, was second fastest ahead of North Shore's Jessie Blundell.

Gareth Kean and Daniel Bell topped the qualifiers in the men's 100m backstroke to set up a mouth watering prospect for tonight's finals.

Kean, of Wellington, equalled the world championships qualifying standard of 55.14sec to win the second heat and Bell, the national recordholder, won the third heat in a time 2/10ths of a second slower than that managed by Kean.

North Shore's Andrew McMillan was the fastest in the heats of the 200m freestyle, clocking 1min 52.05sec, while Canterbury's national champion Natasha Lloyd topped the qualifiers in the 100m breaststroke in 1min 12.59sec.

- NZPA