Swimming: Swanepoel plays down success

Corney Swanepoel is taking the latest string of successes at the Oceania swimming championships with a grain of salt.

The New Zealand team has finished the event in Cairns with a total haul of 46 medals, including 11 golds.

Swanepoel won two gold medals, and was named male swimmer of the event, based on a points system comparing his time to world best times.

However, Swanepoel says it was an early season meeting with a limited field and results were not really part of the plan.

He says he was not expecting any such results or recognition, but just went out to do his job and it is pretty exciting to be at a high level when they are not even supposed to be peaking.

He was disappointed the Commonwealth Games gold medal winning swimmer from Papua New Guinea was not racing in the 100 metres butterfly, and he points out that Australia did enter a reasonably strong team, but a host of fairly young swimmers as well.

The real aim is next month's Pan Pacific Championships in Vancouver.

- NEWSTALK ZB