NEW DELHI: Olympians Glenn Snyders and Hayley Palmer became the fifth and sixth New Zealand swimmers to qualify for the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi when they won the men’s 100m butterfly and women’s 100m freestyle events respectively at the New Zealand swimming championships in Auckland on Wednesday.
According to reports in the New Zealand media, Snyders went through the 50m mark in 28.70 seconds and while his stroke shortened in the final 15m he had enough in the tank to win in 1:01.56, which was 2/10ths under the qualifying time. He finished ahead of United States-based Nic Ferrif and Luke Westgaard.
Snyders gave himself the perfect birthday present by qualifying for Delhi 2010. He said it was mission accomplished but he wanted a better performance. “I was really relaxed this morning (in the heats) and swam well. I probably just tried too hard in the final and the stroke was not as long and not as smooth as this morning.
“But tonight was about making that qualifying time. Now I have time to work on swimming faster and to be competitive come time for the Commonwealth Games. It was a good birthday present, for sure.”
It was a similar story in the 100m freestyle for Palmer, who also turned fractionally ahead of the heat time in 26.29sec. She held on to win in 55.17 seconds ahead of Tash Hind and Penelope Marshall to go under the qualifying mark by 2/10ths of a second.
“That's a pleasing result for sure. The focus tonight was getting under that qualifying time,” Palmer said.“The aim was to go faster but first and foremost it was about qualifying. I knew that getting to my New Zealand record of 53-high which was set in the full suits was unrealistic but my aim is to be very competitive by the time I get to New Delhi."
Corney Swanepoel finished a close second to training partner Moss Burmester in the men's 100m butterfly, with both just outside the Games qualifying time. Burmester won in 53.69 seconds with Swanepoel posting 53.92 seconds ahead of Matt Thomas in third.
“It was slow. I can only put it down to the suits really because both Corney and I have been training right up to our best times,” Burmester said. “It's going to take some time to adjust but I am gutted for Corney.”
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