Swimming: Snyders sixth at world champs

Glenn Snyders in action at the world championships. Photo / Ian MacNicol.

Glenn Snyders has finished sixth in the 50m breaststroke in a solid performance on the fourth day of finals at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Spain today.

The 26-year-old clocked 27.11 to finish fast after a sluggish start in a quality field who were separated by just 0.8 seconds. South Africa's Cameron van der Burgh edged Australian Christian Sprenger by 1/100th of a second to claim the title.

Snyders, who moved to California to train under renowned US coach Dave Salo this year, can take real satisfaction in finally making an individual final at a world championship, and in doing so he swam faster in each of his three swims.

"I have to be pleased with that. I went to the USA because if I want to go to Rio I needed to change what I was doing," Snyders said. "I am enjoying the environment there and we have made a lot of changes and I can see the benefits starting to emerge.

"The final was a good race, not perfect but pretty good. The start was a little slow, something I need to work on. Other than that it was a good race, it was fast and it was good to just be in a final."

Snyders was able to key off South Africa's Giulio Zorzi who made a storming start in the outside lane, with the Kiwi storming home before he ran out of real estate.

"My timing was a little off at the finish but it was hard. When you are going that fast and it is only a 50, you don't have much time to judge unless you are bang on. For me I was just a fraction behind the tempo and it was a bit of a slide into the wall. It's hard to say but another stroke may have been more detrimental.

"I came there to have fun and for me I was trying to treat it like it was just another race."

Snyders is back in the pool tomorrow in the heats of the 200m breaststroke and will also feature as a key member of New Zealand's medley relay on the final day.

Earlier Wellington debutante Samantha Lee came within a whisker of the semifinals in the women's 200m butterfly.

Lee clocked a personal best 2:11.95, only 03.s outside the long-standing national record, to be the 17th fastest qualifier. She missed out on a place in the semifinals by just half a second.

North Shore's Mitchell Donaldson clocked 2:03.89 in the 200m individual medley in his first world championship and did not advance.

Also in action tomorrow is Samantha Lucie-Smith in the 100m freestyle and Gareth Kean in the 200m backstroke.

Day 4 results:
Final men 50m breaststroke: Cameron van der Burgh (RSA) 26.77, 1; Christian Sprenger (AUS) 26.78, 2; Giulio Zorzi (RSA) 27.04, 3. Also: Glenn Snyders (NZL) 27.21, 6.
Heats:
Women 200m butterfly: Mireia Belmonte Garcia (ESP) 2:07.21, 1; Katinka Hosszu (HUN) 2:07.51, 2; Natsumi Hoshi (JPN) 2:07.59, 3. Also: Samantha Lee (NZL) 2:11.95, 17.
Men 200m individual medley: Laszlo Cseh (HUN) 1:57.70, 1; Kosuke Hagino (JPN) 1:57.73, 2; Shun Wang (CHN) 1:57.83, 3. Also: Mitchell Donaldson (NZL) 2:03.89, 40.