Swimming: McLean makes big splash on world stage

Hannah McLean

Hannah McLean returned one of New Zealand swimming's best finishes in the pool for many years after the backstroker ploughed her way to fifth in the world championships 100m final today (NZ time).

Despite missing the medal dais, McLean's time of one minute 01.16 seconds has propelled the Aucklander into the top echelons of international swimming.

Before the starter's gun fired in Montreal today, swimming legend Danyon Loader was the last New Zealander to contest a world championships final seven years ago.

McLean, 24, who didn't progress past the 100m heats at last year's Athens Olympics, left the pool today as the No 1 ranked Commonwealth swimmer heading into the Melbourne Games next March.

She was just adrift of Kirsty Coventry's winning time of 1min 00.24sec which gave Zimbabwe its first world title.

Coventry won the 200m gold at Athens.

Second place went to Germany's Antje Buschsculte in 1min 00.84sec, while American Natalie Coughlin grabbed bronze with 1min 00.88sec as the top five hit the wall in a frantic finish.

McLean's world championships placing was the best by a New Zealander since Loader scooped three medals at the 1994 worlds in Rome.

She also swam the three fastest times of her life in 36 hours after breaking her own New Zealand record in the heats yesterday, before rewriting the books again in her semifinal winning time of 1min 01.14sec.

Head coach Jan Cameron said while McLean, who was ranked 12th before the meet, was slightly disappointed she could not improve on the semifinal, it was a superb performance.

"Hannah's goal was to make the final if she could and become a medal prospect for Melbourne Commonwealth Games," Cameron said.

"Well she exceeded that hugely by winning her semifinal and now she is the No 1 ranked backstroker in the Commonwealth.

"She has done herself, and the team proud and I'm thrilled for her. Importantly she will also learn from this experience and be even stronger for it later in this meet and in the future."

McLean broke quickly in the first 50m as she attempted to gain some time over her opponents, five of whom were finalists from Athens, but slowed in the latter stages of the race.

"Those girls are quicker then her over the first 50, and I think that didn't hurt her at all," Cameron said.

"It's just something you have to experiment with and you have to gamble a little bit if you want the big stakes."

McLean felt she didn't blow out too early in the final, and she had paced herself well after her cracking swims yesterday.

"I've been able to put myself under the most pressure possible," the former King's College student said.

"There's always a bit of residual fatigue when you're racing in a big meet like this, but I just have to keep on top of it because I've got two more individual meets and a relay to go.

"My goal coming into this meet was to have the best Commonwealth ranking possible going into the games so that's fantastic."

McLean's next swim is the 50m backstroke heats tomorrow followed by the 200m heats on Saturday.

- NZPA