KEY POINTS:
New Zealand swimmers grabbed a qualifying spot for the Beijing Olympics and smashed three national records in a strong opening day of heats at the world championships in Melbourne yesterday.
With a record 1200 swimmers in action in pool competition, the opening session of heats took a mammoth five hours at Rod Laver Arena, more than double a usual session of heats.
No New Zealanders made it through to the first night of semifinal and final action but there was plenty to commend.
The women's 4x100m freestyle relay team recorded the 12th fastest time. The top 12 teams from Melbourne qualify directly for next year's Beijing Olympic Games.
Backstroke ace Hannah McLean showed her freestyle capabilities to record a New Zealand record for the 100m freestyle of 55.27s as the lead-off swimmer in the relay.
Veteran Helen Norfolk showed her decision to concentrate on freestyle was well founded when she broke a longstanding national record in the heats of the 400m.
Her North Shore clubmate Glenn Snyders broke an 11-year-old national record but just missed out on a spot in the semis in the 100m breaststroke.
"That was a very, very good first day for us," head coach Jan Cameron said.
"Three national records and now to get a team already qualified for Beijing is excellent.
"It will definitely give a confidence boost to the entire team."
Cameron was thrilled for Snyders.
"Glenn has come on so strongly in the last six months. He's just 19 and I think he has an outstanding future.
"That was a good record to nail and of course his improvement has real significance for the development of our men's medley relay team.
"Helen Norfolk really dug deep and swam well. You know, she made a couple of mistakes and I think she can go quicker yet.
"And the relay team looked strong. Last time we got disqualified at Barcelona when we had a time inside the top 12 for the Athens Olympics so this is nice to have in the bag."
Norfolk clocked 4m 11.98s in the ninth and final heat of the 400m freestyle to cut a second off the 1992 mark set by Phillippa Langrell at the Barcelona Olympics. The 25-year-old, who has been New Zealand's main medley exponent in recent years, has moved her focus to freestyle over the past year to good effect.
Snyders made a huge jump in his international rankings when he chopped more than half a second off Paul Kent's 1996 New Zealand record in the 100m breaststroke.
North Shore butterfly exponent Corney Swanepoel was just outside his best to finish 20th overall in the heats of the 50m butterfly in 24.20s. This was 0.16s from a qualifying spot in the semifinals.
Commonwealth Games 200m champion Moss Burmester recorded a personal-best 24.55s in the same event to bring his ranking down to 33rd.
- NZPA
