Fractions proved the difference for two New Zealand swimmers chasing semifinals on the penultimate day of the FINA World Swimming Championships in Budapest.
Backstroke junior world champion Gabrielle Fa’amausili, 17, in her first elite world championships, clocked 25.38s to be 24th fastest from 87 starters in heats of the 50m freestyle. The talented United club swimmer from Auckland has swum 0.3s fastest which would have been enough to climb inside the top 16 for the semifinals.
There were no additions to New Zealand swimmers qualifying for semifinals and finals on day six of the FINA World Swimming Championships in Budapest.
Queensland-based Emma Robinson, from the Capital club, was 22nd fastest in heats of the 800m freestyle from 38 starters, headed by world record holder and Olympic champion Katie Ledecky.
Robinson was outside her personal best with a 8:44.87 effort, and not able to produce the same level as her strong PB in the 1500m freestyle earlier in the week.
Florida-based Corey Main could not repeat his earlier heroics to earn a second final at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Budapest.
Main, from the Howick Pakuranga club, had hoped his outstanding swim in the 100m backstroke that saw him make his first World Championship final, would be a catalyst for his favoured 200m backstroke on day five today.
He snuck into the final with the 16th fastest times, but hoped a semifinals swim under his best of 1:57.51 might be enough to reach a second final to seal an excellent world championship. That did not prove the case, matching his 16th world ranking from two years ago, when he could only manage 2:01.00 in his semifinal.
Rio Olympian Bradlee Ashby set a New Zealand record on the way to his best performance of a young career at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Budapest.
Ashby finished 13th fastest overall in the semifinals of the 200m individual medley in a time of 1:59.24, which cut 0.3s off his own national record.
The Waikato swimmer, who trains with the High Performance Centre squad under New Zealand coach Jerry Olszewski, improved a second on a morning heat swim that saw him sneak into the semifinals as the 15th fastest.
New Zealand swimmer Corey Main is looking forward to his favoured distance after his first final at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Budapest today.
The Florida-based swimmer from the Howick Pakuranga club finished eighth in the final of the 100m backstroke in 53.87, and while he could not better his semifinal time, he has recorded two personal best swims in Hungary.
Corey Main set two personal bests to qualify for the finals of the 100m backstroke on day two of the FINA World Swimming Championships in Budapest.
The 21-year-old secured his first world championships final with a 53.76s effort in the semifinal to be eighth fastest of nine swimmers into the final.
Earlier the US-based swimmer from the Howick Pakuranga club went 53.93s, to edge under his previous best, to be ninth fastest from the heats. In his evening semifinal Main started conservatively, but used his back-end strength to power home in 53.76 to further lower his personal best.
New Zealand’s outstanding five-time World Championship medallist and Commonwealth Games Champion Lauren Boyle has announced her retirement from swimming.
She leaves the sport as a one of New Zealand’s all-time best. Boyle won two silver medals at the 2015 World Championships, is a Commonwealth Games gold and silver medallist and a three-time Olympian.
Boyle bids farewell to the sport after a hip injury in 2016 that eventually led to major surgery in May this year. She was selected for the team for last week’s World Championships in Budapest but was forced to withdraw due to hampered training efforts. As a result her swimming career wrapped up with her racing at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games where she was not at her best.
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