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No medals for NZ on busy night
Tuesday, August 16th, 2005
New Zealand swimmers could not add to their medal haul despite a busy session of finals on the fourth day of the World University Games in Turkey this morning (NZ time).
They contested five A and two B finals in their most successful qualifying performance at the championships at the Urla pool near Izmir.
Coach Jan Cameron said the team worked hard against quality opposition while the effects of extreme heat, long daily travel and tiredness also played a part.
“We are not making any excuses at all. There are some very strong swim squads here and we are all quite shattered,” Cameron said.
“The heat is just so oppressive, over 40C deg and we are away from the village for 14 and 15 hours each day. It is not ideal to get quality performances but our swimmers are all working extremely hard to do their best.”
Cameron said the best medal hopes, Athens Olympians Helen Norfolk (Massey Albany) and Moss Burmester (Massey Albany) came up against the world’s best in their respective 400m medley and 100m butterfly finals.
Norfolk, who qualified sixth, finished fifth in the final only two seconds from the winner, clocking four minutes 47.79 seconds.
Burmester produced a near personal best to finish third fastest in qualifying for the 100m butterfly and went quicker to finish fifth in the final in 53.66sec, only 0.29sec from the winner.
Their North Shore clubmate Liz Coster (Auckland) finished seventh in the final of the 100m backstroke, also improving on her qualifying time with another personal best of 1min 03.28sec.
Team captain Alison Fitch (Massey Albany) was in the medal mix at the halfway point of the 200m freestyle final but could not sustain that level, finishing eighth in 2min 03.12sec.
The men’s 4×200m freestyle relay team mixed up their combination for the final, finishing seventh in their first major outing at an international meet.
New Zealand results:
Heats:
400m freestyle: Robert Voss (Massey Albany, and North Shore) 3:59.27 12, Michael Jack (Auckland University - North Shore) 4:08.32 27.
400m individual medley: Helen Norfolk (Massey Albany - North Shore) 4:51.94 6.
100m butterfly: Moss Burmester (Massey Albany - North Shore) 53.82 3, Matt Thomas (Massey Palmerston North - Hawkes Bay) 55.00 19.
100m backstroke: Liz Coster (Auckland - North Shore) 1:03.41 4, Melissa Ingram (Auckland - North Shore) 1:04.07 12.
200m fre3estyle: Alison Fitch (Massey Albany - North Shore) 2:02.59 7.
Men 4×200m freestyle relay: NZ 7:28.52 (Burmester 1:53.01 (Massey Albany) Cameron Gibson 1:51.98 (Auckland) Andrew McMillan 1:51.92 (Otago) Robert Voss 1:51.61 (Massey Albany)) 8.
A Finals:
400m medley: Norfolk 4:47.79 5.
100m butterfly: Burmester 53.66 5.
100m backstroke: Coster 1:03.28 7.
200m freestyle: Fitch 2:03.12 8.
4×200m freestyle relay: NZ 7:30.28 (McMillan 1:53.26 Voss 1:52.56 Gibson 1:51.34 Burmester 1:53.02) 7.
B finals:
400m freestyle: Voss 4:00.64 7.
100m backstroke: Ingram 1:03.86 3.
Source: www.stuff.co.nz
