Absolute Insurance Youth & Open Swim – Day 2 Heats
Sprinters Mark Herring and Cameron Gibson both broke New Zealand records to set up a great duel on the second day of heats at the Absolute Insurance Youth and Open Championships in Christchurch tonight.
Gibson, who broke the New Zealand 100m freestyle record at last week’s world championships in Melbourne, was the first to strike at the QE2 Aquatic Centre.
The former North Shore swimmer, now based in the renowned sprint programme in Bath, England, set a new record in heat six of the men’s 50m freestyle.
He clocked 23.13 to edge the previous mark held by Herring by 6/100ths of a second.
Not to be outdone, Herring (West Auckland Aquatics) bounced back two heats later to further lower the record to 23.09s, a full 1/10th of a second off his previous record.
It sets up a superb battle between the pair in tomorrow’s preliminary final with the title decided on Friday morning, where the 23 second barrier may be broken for the first time.
International visitors topped the other qualifiers with British record-holder Darren Mew the fastest in heats of the men’s 50m breaststroke with 28.37s, ahead of New Zealand record-holder Glenn Snyders.
Australian Chelsea Carpenter was fastest in heats of the women’s 100m freestyle in 58.02s, ahead of New Zealand representatives Lauren Boyle (West Auckland Aquatics) in 58.31 and Helen Norfolk (North Shore) in 58.31.
There are six finals on tomorrow morning’s session including the women’s 50m butterfly, men’s 100m backstroke, women’s 50m breaststroke, women’s 100m backstroke, men’s 100m butterfly and women’s 800m freestyle.
Full results: www.swimmingnz.org.nz
For further information:
Ian Hepenstall, Sports Media NZ, Tel 0275 613181, E: ianhep@xtra.co.nz
Gibson, who broke the New Zealand 100m freestyle record at last week’s world championships in Melbourne, was the first to strike at the QE2 Aquatic Centre.
The former North Shore swimmer, now based in the renowned sprint programme in Bath, England, set a new record in heat six of the men’s 50m freestyle.
He clocked 23.13 to edge the previous mark held by Herring by 6/100ths of a second.
Not to be outdone, Herring (West Auckland Aquatics) bounced back two heats later to further lower the record to 23.09s, a full 1/10th of a second off his previous record.
It sets up a superb battle between the pair in tomorrow’s preliminary final with the title decided on Friday morning, where the 23 second barrier may be broken for the first time.
International visitors topped the other qualifiers with British record-holder Darren Mew the fastest in heats of the men’s 50m breaststroke with 28.37s, ahead of New Zealand record-holder Glenn Snyders.
Australian Chelsea Carpenter was fastest in heats of the women’s 100m freestyle in 58.02s, ahead of New Zealand representatives Lauren Boyle (West Auckland Aquatics) in 58.31 and Helen Norfolk (North Shore) in 58.31.
There are six finals on tomorrow morning’s session including the women’s 50m butterfly, men’s 100m backstroke, women’s 50m breaststroke, women’s 100m backstroke, men’s 100m butterfly and women’s 800m freestyle.
Full results: www.swimmingnz.org.nz
For further information:
Ian Hepenstall, Sports Media NZ, Tel 0275 613181, E: ianhep@xtra.co.nz