Swimming: Second placing for Tait in Monte Carlo meet

New Zealander Karen Tait was rewarded for a hard-working performance to grab second place on the second day of the Monaco international swimming meeting in Monte Carlo yesterday.

Tait, 18, of Ashburton, headed the New Zealand performances in the last of the four-round Mare Nostrum series in Barcelona, Canet, Rome and Monaco over the past two weeks.

Now training under Duncan Laing in Dunedin, Tait finished second in the 400m freestyle following her third place in the 200m freestyle on Wednesday. Her 2m 3.26s for the 200m was inside the standard New Zealand 18 years age-group record.

Tait clocked 4m 18.40s in the 400m, less than two seconds behind winner Jane Pechanova.

There were two other podium performances by the small New Zealand team, with Dean Kent, of North Shore, third in the 200m individual medley and Jonathan Duncan, from Dunedin, second in the 400m freestyle.

Kent clocked a useful 2m 5.06s to finish just behind Australian Rob van der Zant, his main opposition at next year's Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Duncan produced an excellent 3m 58.61s in the 400m behind winner and world recordholder Ian Thorpe.

Kent finished fifth in the 400m individual medley yesterday in 4m 25.14s, and Duncan, a long-distance freestyler, was eighth in the 200m in 1m 54.33s, again won by Thorpe, who outclassed the field.

- NZPA