Snyders Seventh in Semi

North Shore swimmer Glenn Snyders broke the second national record of his Olympic campaign today.  Snyders swam 2min 10.55s in his 200m breaststroke heat, chipping 0.3s off his New Zealand record. His effort qualified him 10th for tonight’s 200m breaststroke semi-finals.

On the opening day of the Olympic swimming, Snyders, 25, broke his 100m breaststroke record, but was unable to progress further than the semi-finals.

The fastest qualifiers for tonight’s 200m breaststroke semis were Hungarian Daniel Gyurta at 2min 08.71s and Briton Michael Jamieson, 2min 08.98s.  Snyders was understandably delighted with his time.  “I’m really pleased to get that record. I was trying to keep my stroke long,” he said. “Now I have to get it done tonight.”  He estimated he might well need to go under 2min 10s to have a chance of advancing to the final.

The New Zealand 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of Matthew Stanley, Steven Kent, Dylan Dunlop-Barrett and Andy McMillan didn’t have such a good day.  They finished eighth and last in their heat in a time of 7min 17.18s, more than three seconds outside their national record.  Stanley had a good first leg, touching 0.3s outside his national record. New Zealand were third at that point, but thereafter they struggled.

Credit: Getty Images