By David
I have enjoyed being in Auckland for the provincial championships. It’s a pure coincidence that my first holiday home after seven years away coincided with the Auckland meet. I was interested to see many of New Zealand’s best swimmers perform; and I was impressed and disappointed. I was impressed by the standard of the fastest swimmers. The good swimmers here are very good. Swimmers like Bell, Ingram, Benson, Thomas, Stanley, Hind, Snyders, Burmester, McMillan, Wiegersma, Richter and a few others would hold their own in any company. In the seven years I’ve been in the USA I’ve been to their National Championships with six swimmers. Any of Auckland’s fastest swimmers could compete there with distinction.
Previous Swimwatch articles have mentioned Melissa Ingram. The last time I saw her swim was in the World Cup meets in Moscow, Stockholm and Berlin. She was a class act then and still was this weekend in Auckland. I’m certain she could win a meet like the Olympic Games. I liked the look of Bell too. I’ve never seen him swim before but he does have that beautiful ride through the water that you see in a Peirsol or Marshall. Until this weekend I thought Soni’s stroke was unique to her. Snyder though, has a very similar stroke; a male version but similar nevertheless. Wiegersma is from New Zealand’s deep south. They breed them tough down there and Wiegersma seems to be no exception. I have seen Benson swim before. He competed against two of the guys I coach in last year’s Mare Nostrum series. He’s a good swimmer and beat the talented Faamausili Banse in Auckland to win the 50 freestyle. Another swimmer I’ve never seen before is Hind. She won the 200 freestyle in 2.00 minutes. That’s a good time; a very good time.
But it’s also a time that encapsulates the New Zealand problem. Two minutes is good, even very good – but the 200 in last week’s Texas Grand Prix was won in 1.58. So often it seems New Zealand swimmers are close, but not quite close enough. Hind is good but not quite as good as Pellegrini and even Moss struggles to match Phelps. Often the gap is quite small but it is always there. Something needs to be done to push these very good swimmers that few seconds further; that few seconds that is the difference between a good swimmer and the best in the world. From what I saw this weekend the potential is there to bridge the gap. Something or someone is needed to make sure it happens. It is no good at all being almost as good a Pellegrini or Phelps. Being better is what counts.
The other concern is depth. With the exception of one or two events – the women’s backstroke for example – there are not enough good swimmers in each event. Swimming in the USA is amazingly competitive. In every event 30 swimmers are within a meter or so of the very best. It is a healthy state of affairs; pushing the best and the others to better performances. New Zealand’s four million people can never hope to produce the number of top swimmers found in the United States. A few more however would benefit everyone.
When Loader won the 200 and 400 freestyle events at Atlanta he clearly showed everyone in New Zealand what is achievable. There were Loaders in the pool in Auckland; of that there is no doubt. It has been fun watching them perform this weekend. It will be even more fun seeing them make Perirsol, Pellegrini and Phelps the second best in the world in their event.
