Boyle in sizzling form

Boyle in sizzling form

Lauren Boyle turned in a hugely impressive showing in her first swim of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Boyle, a triple world championship medallist last year, began her games campaign with the 200m freestyle, which is a little short of her ideal distance.

However, the 26-year-old set a New Zealand record of 1min 56.82s and was the third fastest of the 28 swimmers who contested the event. For a swimmer who had not previously gone under 1min 57s, it was a superb effort.

Australian Emma McKeon, 1min 56.57s, and Englishwoman Siobhan OConnor, 1min 56.58s, led the qualifiers. The first three qualifiers all went under the previous games record.

There was 0.8s between Boyle and the fourth-fastest qualifier, which augurs well for the New Zealanders medal hopes.

There were two other New Zealanders in the event. Samantha Lucie-Smith recorded 1min 59.63s, for 13th fastest overall, and Emma Robinsons 2min 01.78s placed her 16th.

Another big name in the New Zealand swim team, Glenn Snyders, just missed a place in the final of the mens 200m breaststroke.

Though the 200m is not his favoured distance, Snyders was given a good chance of qualifying for the final. He swam 2min 11.96s and was ninth overall. The three fastest qualifiers were all Scots. The eighth qualifier was timed at 2min 11.96s, so Snyders missed out by 0.2s.

In the mens 400m freestyle, Matthew Stanley and Dylan Dunlop-Barrett missed out on making the eight-man final.

Stanley recorded 3min 52.81s to be 11th fastest of the 28 swimmers and team-mate Dunlop Barretts heat time of 3min 53.35s placed him 12th.

The fastest qualifier was Australian David McKeon with 3min 45.23s and the eighth fastest man, another Australian, Jordan Harrison, recorded 3min 47.75s.

In the womens 100m butterfly, talented Wellingtonian Samantha Lee qualified for the semi-finals when she swam 1min 00.29s, which placed her 12th of the 16 semi-finalists.

Corey Main turned in an impressive effort in the mens 100m backstroke qualifying. His time of 54.40s placed him fourth among the 16 qualifiers, the fastest of whom was Englishman Chris Walker-Hebborn, with 53.30s.

In the womens 4 x 100m freestyle relay, New Zealand qualified comfortably for the final, though with only 11 starters, it was not a demanding task.

New Zealand were fourth fastest qualifier, behind Australia, England and Canada. The New Zealanders time was 3min 45.32s, fractionally ahead of Scotland.