Record for Relay, Kean Misses

The women’s relay team celebrated a national record in the fourth day of pool action in London today.

The quartet of Tash Hind, Samantha Lucie-Smith, Amaka Gessler and Melissa Ingram broke the mark set by the team in last year’s world championships.

Without 200m record holder, Lauren Boyle, who is focussing on tomorrow’s 800m freestyle, the quartet clocked 7:55.92 which was 0.6s under the national record, in 11^th fastest time.

Meanwhile Wellington’s Gareth Kean was well below his best in his 200m backstroke heat, managing just 2min 00.34s, more than three seconds outside his national record.

Kean’s time placed him 29th among the backstrokers, with the top 16 to move on to the semifinals.  The fastest qualifiers were Americans Tyler Clary (1min 56.24s) and Ryan Lochte (1min 56.36s).  Kean won a silver medal in the 200m backstroke at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. 

Tomorrow’s is a big day in the pool with Boyle in heats of the 800m freestyle, Ingram in her favoured 200m backstroke and Daniel Bell in the 100m butterfly.