Silver lining for Synders, Ingram in top world cup campaign

Silver medals to Olympians Glenn Snyders and Melissa Ingram brought the curtain down on a hugely successful and gruelling campaign in the FINA World Cup that ended in Singapore today.

For the first time in the Asian leg of the series, Snyders had to settle for second in the 100m breaststroke after a massive battle with Australian Christian Sprenger. The New Zealander turned just ahead but was run down by Sprenger who won in 57.46, the fastest time in the series with Snyders second in 58.18.

The 24 year old, coached by Mark Regan at Swimming New Zealand’s High Performance Centre, completed 34 races in eight countries on 16 days. Snyders enjoyed 15 podiums from his 16 finals including five wins and two New Zealand records in the process.

Ingram, 27, was second to Australian Angie Bainbridge in a superb final in the 400m freestyle. The lead changed throughout with the New Zealander, coached by Scott Talbot, ahead by 3/10ths at the 350m mark. The Australian finished stronger to win in 4:04.14 with Ingram only 13/100ths of a second behind in her fastest time of the series.

She also finished fifth in the final of the 100m backstroke. It marked a massive campaign for Ingram who had 40 races in the eight meets, with 15 podiums from her 20 finals including five victories. With Ingram mixing top quality performances in both freestyle and backstroke, she also pushed up into the top-10 overall female performances on the circuit with stops in meets at Doha, Dubai, Stockholm, Moscow, Berlin, Beijing, Tokyo and Singapore.

Snyders will return for a break before building up for next year’s world long course championships in Barcelona in July, while Ingram will freshen before focussing on next month’s world short course championships in Turkey.

In other swims by New Zealanders, Mitchell Donaldson (North Shore) was fourth in the 200m individual medley (1:58.74) after a conservative start with Taranaki’s Dylan Dunlop-Barrett eighth (2:03.64). Olympian Matthew Stanley (Matamata) was sixth in the 200m freestyle in 1:45.02 while Jessica Marston (West Auckland Aquatics) was eighth in the 400m freestyle in 4:18.84.

Results, day 2:

200m freestyle: Cameron McEvoy (AUS) 1:43.40, 1; Darian Townsend (RSA) 1:43.60, 2; Tommaso D’Orsogna (AUS) 1:44.24, 3. Also: Matthew Stanley (NZL) 1:45.02, 6.

100m breaststroke: Christian Sprenger (AUS) 57.46, 1; Glenn Snyders (NZL) 58.18, 2; Sean Mahoney (USA) 58.53, 3.

100m backstroke: Rachel Goh (AUS) 57.34, 1; Grace Loh (AUS) 57.75, 2; Tianlongzi Xiu (CHN) 58.96, 3. Also Melissa Ingram (NZL) 59.58, 5.

200m individual medley: Darian Townsend (RSA) 1:54.16, 1; Yuki Shirai (JPN) 1:54.95, 2; Justin James (AUS) 1:58.14, 3. Also: Mitchell Donaldson (NZL) 1:58.74, 4; Dylan Dunlop-Barrett (NZL) 2:03.64, 8.

400m freestyle: Angie Bainbridge (AUS) 4:04.01, 1; Ingram 4:04.14, 2; Jessica Pengelly (RSA) 4:06.08, 3. Also: Jessica Marston (NZL) 4:18.84, 8.