Swimming: NZ records tumble in Montreal

Fast-rising New Zealand star Hannah McLean broke her national record for a second time, finishing a fingertip from a medal at the world championships in Montreal yesterday.

She highlighted another strong day for the squad that saw members qualify for three finals and the oldest national record wiped from the books. North Shore medley specialist Helen Norfolk broke Rebecca Perrott's record for the women's 200m freestyle, which has stood for 27 years.

Norfolk led the 4 x 200m freestyle relay team who finished eighth in the final in 8m 07.95s, outside the national record they set in the morning heats of 8m 05.12s.

North Shore's Dean Kent was just outside his national record in finishing eighth in the final of the 200m medley.

That brought the tally of world championship finalists to five for the New Zealand squad, more than at any previous world championships, with three more swimmers still to compete.

McLean, 24, followed her fifth placing in the 100m backstroke on Thursday with seventh place in the final of the 50m backstroke, slicing her record to 28.90s, which was just 0.018s off a medal, and 0.027s from winner Australia Giann Rooney.

"Hannah told our group that when she stood on the blocks with all those world champions and Olympic medallists she felt like she belonged there, that she had earned the right to be there," head coach Jan Cameron said.

"That belief is a big part of her magnificent efforts here so far this week."

McLean is back in the pool today, chasing her fourth final of the championships in the heats of the 200m backstroke.

The quartet of Norfolk, Alison Fitch, Melissa Ingram (all North Shore) and Lauren Boyle (West Auckland Aquatics) smashed the national record in the heats of the 4 x 200m freestyle relay.

They finished third in their heat in 8m 05.12s to qualify sixth for the final, nearly 10s inside the previous mark set at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics of 8m 14.98s.

"It was a very big ask to push them to improve on that heat effort but this is a significant breakthrough for our programme to have a freestyle relay team in the top eight in the world," Cameron said.

"At the same time we have blooded some very exciting young swimmers like Lauren Boyle."

Cameron was also full of praise for the performances of Fitch and Kent.

Earlier, Fitch finished 15th overall in the semifinals of the women's 100m freestyle. The Atlanta Olympian clocked 56.22s, identical to her time in the morning heats where she qualified for the semifinals.

Kent was chasing his national record of 2m 01.31s that he established at the Athens Olympics, pushing up to sixth place after strong backstroke and breaststroke legs.

He was pipped with a final 29.47s leg for the 50m freestyle to record 2m 01.81s, ranking him No 1 in the Commonwealth ahead of next year's Games in Melbourne.

The sixth day of competition today features McLean and Ingram in the heats of the 200m backstroke, Corney Swanepoel and Moss Burmester in the 100m butterfly, Cameron Gibson in the 50m freestyle and Coster and Georgina Toomey in the 50m butterfly.



Record Day

Hannah McLean 200m freestyle record.

Women's relay team 4 x 200m freestyle record.

- NZPA