New Zealand swimmers saved their best until this evening, earning four medals in the Commonwealth Games swimming competition.
Hayley Palmer picked up a bronze medal in the womens 50m freestyle. Palmer swam an impressive 25.01s, much quicker than her qualifying time, and only a fingernail from the silver. During her time in Delhi she has trimmed her national record from 25.35 to 25.01, a significant advance.
The medal caps a fine meet for the 21-year-old freestyle specialist.
Glenn Snyders made up for his disappointment at missing a medal in the 100m breaststroke by grabbing second equal, and therefore a silver, in the 50m breaststroke.
Neither he nor Australian Brenton Rickard was a match for South African Cameron van der Burgh, the world record-holder. However Snyders and Rickard battled it out right to the wall. They were both timed at 27.67s, a New Zealand record for Snyders, who will be pleased to have delivered a medal on a major swimming stage.
The race New Zealanders were eagerly awaiting was the mens 100m final, in which Daniel Bell and Gareth Kean were both strong medal contenders.
In the end Bell swam 54.43s, marginally slower than his qualifying time, to snatch the
silver medal behind Englishman Liam Tancock, who was in a class of his own.
Kean went much quicker than in his qualifying swim, but his 54.91s was good enough only for fifth. Nevertheless Kean, just turned 19, has had a fine meet, with a silver in the 200m backstroke and a fifth in the 100th. His potential is exciting.
Bell was matter-of-fact afterwards.
I did what I needed to do to win a silver on the day and Ive got to be happy with that. Im a little disappointed in the time. It was slower than last night and that guts me a bit, but a silver is still a silver.
Melissa Ingram, the fastest qualifier in the 200m backstroke, could manage just seventh in a hot-paced final.
Ingram swam 2min 09.53s, one-tenth of a second faster than her qualifying swim, but was no match for the best of the Australians and English.
Womens 400m freestyle swimmer Lauren Boyle, also the fastest qualifier, could manage just fifth in the final. Her time was 4min 09.45s, a national record and nearly a second faster than her qualifying swim, so it was a most commendable performance.
She was fourth at the halfway mark, improved to third and then drifted back in the sprint for home.
Boyle, who has been studying at Berkeley in the US, is returning to New Zealand next January. This should help the swimming squad considerably because Boyle, 22, has emerged as one of its leaders in Delhi.
Emily Thomas finished seventh in the womens 50m backstroke in a time of 29.02s.
In the final event of the evening, the womens 4 x 100m freestyle relay, New Zealand Hayley Palmer, Penelope Marshall, Amaka Gessler and Natasha Hind - finished in fourth place, but were elevated to the bronze medal positon when the Canadian team was disqualified.
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