Swimming: McMillan wins 400m title

North Shore swimmer Andrew McMillan upset his New Zealand teammates to win the 400m freestyle at the New Zealand short course championships in Christchurch last night.

McMillan followed his win in the 200m with a come-from-behind display to edge out Michael Jack of West Auckland and top qualifier Moss Burmester of the North Shore International Training Centre.

Another 24-year-old stamped her class on the night when Melissa Ingram laid some ghosts to rest with an emphatic win in the women's 200m backstroke.

But the talking point was McMillan's burst over the final 35m after Jack led through the first half and Burmester worked his way to the front.

By the final turn McMillan had edged ahead, surprising himself with a time of 3m 46.92s after a long break following his outstanding 2008 season.

"I was a little bit nervous coming to the pool tonight. I've only been back in the pool four weeks," he said.

"I'm pretty happy. That was not far off my best. I am still in full training. My coach Scott Talbot has me doing 4km every morning and he stepped it up to 5km this morning.

"I was thinking about the 200m and throwing it out there real hard at the start and making them catch me. But I felt quite comfortable staying with them over that first 200m and then to bring in the legs over the last 100m."

Ingram returned to the QEII pool where she missed out at the world championship trials back in April, leading from the start to win in a slick 2m 06.27s. She finished less than 2s outside her national record.

"When I walked in on the first day I was a little bit haunted after the world champs trials here. But I knew I had to get out there and get some good swims under my belt and overcome the ghosts," she said.

"The whole winter has been about technique and building my base. In a way I am going to work missing out on the world champs to my advantage and have had that time to put in a solid base."

- NZPA