KEY POINTS:
Internationals Corney Swanepoel and Cameron Gibson set more records at the national youth and open swimming championships in Christchurch yesterday.
Swanepoel, 21, who broke his New Zealand record for the 50m butterfly in the heats on Thursday, lowered it again yesterday to reach today's final.
He sliced two-hundredths of a second off the record first - then reduced it by a further seven-hundredths to 23.67s, a time that would have placed him seventh in the final at the world championships last week.
Gibson made it three straight New Zealand records in the 50m freestyle, lowering the mark again to 22.85s to win the final from Swanepoel.
Now based in the specialist sprint programme in Bath, England, Gibson has reduced the national record by more than three-tenths of a second during the championships.
The North Shore club dominated the finals. Moss Burmester, Melissa Ingram, Dean Kent, Glenn Snyders and Helen Norfolk all won titles, with further glory going to promising teens Natalie Wiegersma and Kurt Bassett.
Burmester dominated the 400m freestyle, winning comfortably in 3m 55.68s from Shane Patience (Waves, Dunedin) while Ingram was well clear in winning the 200m backstroke in 2m 14.41s from clubmate Penny Marshall.
Kent won the 200m individual medley in 2m 04.70s from Wellington's John Gatfield. Norfolk was classy in winning the 400m freestyle in 4m 15.93s from Manawatu's Cara Baker before also claiming the 100m freestyle from Te Rina Taite and Lauren Boyle.
Snyders finished second behind England record-holder Darren Mew but took the national title in the 50m breaststroke in 28.78s.
Wiegersma, last year's world youth backstroke champion, won the 200m butterfly title from Abby Shaw (Aquagym, Christchurch) in 2m 18.44s.
Bassett (Laser, Mt Eden), second in the 100m backstroke final, edged out North Shore's Cameron Stanley to win the 200m backstroke by just four-hundredths of a second in 2m 04.43s.
The championships continue until tomorrow.
- NZPA
