2016 NEW ZEALAND SHORT COURSE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sir Owen G Glenn National Aquatic Centre, Auckland
- October 2nd-6th, 2016
- Prelims – 9 am local (4 pm EST (the previous day)
- Finals – 6 pm local (1 am EST)
- Meet Schedule
- Results
- World Short Course Championships Qualifying Criteria
Both Daniel Hunter and Helen Gasson set new national records on the third night of the 2016 New Zealand Short Course National Championships in Auckland.
Hunter won the men’s 50 freestyle hitting the wall in a time of 21.52 beating the previous mark of 21.62 set by Cameron Simpson in 2012. He also dipped under the World Short Course Championship qualifying standard of 21.64 adding the event to his racing schedule for the competition in December. So far Hunter is the only athlete to have met the selection criteria this week in Auckland.
In the prelims Gasson set a new national record in the women’s 100 IM qualifying for the final in a time of 1:01.21 beating the mark of 1:01.24 set by Hayley Palmer in 2009. In the final the 2016 Olympian bettered her own record finishing in a time of 1:00.61.
Although Gasson set a new national record in the event and earned the national title she missed the World Short Course Championship qualifying time of 1:00.57 by four one-hundredths of a second, “I’ve just got back in the water and so all I wanted to do was come here and PB, have fun and race at home again,” said Gasson. “I wasn’t ever focussing on the qualifying times.
“To get the New Zealand record is pretty cool. I didn’t know what the qualifying time was until someone told me I was 0.04 off. I just want to keep all the pressure out of the competition and just enjoy it.”
“The Games were fun and I learned a lot but a lot of pressure came with it. So it’s good to take a step back and fall back in love with the sport.”
Australian Emily Washer posted the fastest time in the event finishing in a 1:00.52.
Both George Schroder and Gabrielle Fa’amausili were less than a tenth of a second off of qualifying standard for Windsor. Schroder finished over a second ahead of the field in the men’s 200 breaststroke posting a winning time of 2:08.76. The time was well under his lifetime best of 2:10.18, but was just shy of the qualifying standard of 2:08.71.
Fa’amausili took the women’s 50 freestyle with relative ease finishing a half second ahead of the field recording a time of 24.85, but fell just short of the qualifying standard of 24.82.