Swimming: Personal best puts swimmer in Games contention

By PETER JESSUP

Moss Burmester surprised everyone but himself when he swam a personal best and bettered the qualifying mark for the Commonwealth Games at the Waitakere Aquatic Centre last night.

The 20-year-old from Tauranga led all the way in the men's 200m butterfly final at the national swimming champs and finished in 2m 00.84s.

He had no competition to push him and the field finished an average 4s behind.

There was a big, noisy contingent of supporters from his Tauranga club, Otumoetai, which Burmester agreed helped him along, but he said that after recording 2m 2.1s in his heat he was always confident he could beat the Games mark of 2m 01s.

Otago's Liz van Welie was the only other swimmer to make the Games mark last night, winning the 200m individual medley in 2m 17.52s, just 0.28s inside of what was required.

But the most buoyant of the rest of the contenders in action on day one of the national champs was a swimmer who didn't make it.

Alison Fitch was philosophical about missing out on qualifying in her target event, the 200m freestyle, by 0.43s.

She went 2m 02.22s in her heat and a personal best of 2m 01.73s to win the final. She has one more chance, in the relay.

Fitch has come a long way since being the first athlete eliminated at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. She is enjoying her new lease on swimming after a break and a shift to the North Shore club, and is sure of making her mark.

"I surprised myself at the winter champs last year with how well I did on only a little bit of preparation and it was then I decided I wanted to kick on," Fitch said.

The 2004 Olympics in Athens are her aim, "regardless of what happens here and whether I make the [Commonwealth] Games team."

Coach Jan Cameron had told her she was not committed enough and was too conservative in her effort last night, "and that's probably right ... I know I can do better."

Fitch was Atlanta's youngest competitor. Now 22, she looks back on the day she swam her heat in the 100m with something like amazement.

"I was only 16, so naive, and it was a very scary day."

She briefly became the focus of international media attention.

"I was only 0.4 of a second off my best at that stage so it really wasn't that bad."

Last night, Sydney Olympian Helen Norfolk was the next-nearest miss, just 0.47s behind Fitch and 0.91s behind van Welie.

Swimming New Zealand invited North Shore coach Igor Polianski to officially open the meeting in recognition of his acceptance yesterday into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Polianski held a variety of world records in backstroke between 1985 and 1988, and won gold for the Soviet Union in the 200m backstroke and bronze in the 100m at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.