Swimming: Ingram wins silver in France

North Shore swimmer Melissa Ingram produced a strong performance to claim the silver medal on the first day of the final meet in the Mare Nostrum series in France today.

Ingram, 24, clocked a fast 2:10.07 to finish second to Britain's Elizabeth Simmonds in the 200m backstroke at Canet en Roussillon in the prestigious European grand prix series.

The classy Ingram, coached by Scott Talbot, was 0.9s outside her own national record set last year in the full suit era, chalking up 884 FINA points in an impressive display, following her silver medal in Barcelona midweek.

She was again joined by Wellington backstroker Gareth Kean on the podium after he finished third in the men's 200m backstroke in 2:01.14 in his first major international meet. Kean, coached by Gary Hurring at the Capital club, was third fastest qualifier and went quicker for his third placing in the final.

The third medal went to Glen Snyders, from the High Performance Centre at Millennium, who was second in the final of the 50m breaststroke. Snyders, coached by Thomas Ansorg, impressed with a 28.20 swim in the final for 846 FINA points.

US-based Lauren Boyle had a strong night with two fourth placings in the 800m freestyle in an impressive 8:40.27 and in the 200m freestyle clocking 2:00.25. She led an excellent effort from the Commonwealth Games relay team-mates with Natasha Hind (HPC - Capital) sixth in 2:00.70 and Penny Marshall eighth in 2:00.89 sfter going quicker in her heat.

There were four other finalists from the Commonwealth Games team with Snyders sixth in the 100m breaststroke in 1:02.38, Moss Burmester seventh in the 100m butterfly in 55.06, Natalie Wiegersma fifth in the 200m individual medley in 2:14.84 and Hayley Palmer seventh in the 50m freestyle in 25.49.

The meet concludes tomorrow with the New Zealand team then heading to nearby Narbonne for a two week training camp.

- NZPA