Swimming: Top effort by young team against world's best

Christchurch swimmer Megan Allan rounded off a highly successful raid across the Tasman by taking gold on the final night of the Australian age-group championships in Melbourne.

Allan, from the Aqua Gym club, set a New Zealand age-group record in winning the 17-18 years 200m butterfly in 2m 15.67s.

New Zealand swimmers won seven medals on the final night to take their tally to 33 for the five-day meet, their most successful campaign against some of the world's best age-group competitors.

The Kiwis finished the championships with seven gold, 10 silver and 15 bronze medals.

Sydney Olympian Jonathan Duncan (Neptune, Otago) and Natalie Bernard (North Shore) led the way with four medals each. Rebecca Linton (Howick Pakuranga) and Elliot Box (Aqua Gym, Canterbury) each won three.

The New Zealanders also took a silver and five bronze medals on the final night. Duncan picked up his fourth medal by finishing second in the 17-18 years 200m butterfly in 2m 01.55s. While he just missed qualifying for the world championships, Duncan continues to press his international claims as a freestyler.

The bronze medals went to Mark Herring (West Auckland) in the 16 years 50m freestyle, Linton in the 15 years 400m freestyle, Box in the 13 years 200m backstroke, Karen Tait (Neptune) in the 17-18 years 200m butterfly and Melissa Ingram (North Shore) in the 15 years 100m backstroke.

Gold medal winners


Jonathan Duncan (Otago) 400m freestyle, 17-18 years. Cameron Gibson (North Shore) 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, 17-18 years. Liz Coster (Parnell) 100m backstroke, 17-18 years.

Melissa Ingram (North Shore) 200m backstroke, 15 years. Megan Allan (Christchurch) 200m butterfly, 17-18 years. Ben Pickersgill-Brown (Christchurch) 200m freestyle, 14-year-old boys.