The Wellington teenager Gareth Kean swam his way to a New Zealand record and a place in the 100 metre backstroke finals to highlight day two of the World Swimming Championships in Shanghai.
The 19 year old recorded 53.69 seconds to snip nearly 2/10ths of a second off Daniel Bell's national record set at the 2009 world championships in Rome.
The lanky Capital Club swimmer stormed home over the last 50 metres to finish third in the second semi-final to claim the eighth and final spot in tonight's final.
Kean clocked 53.89 to record the sixth fastest time in morning heats to comfortably move through to the semi-finals.
It was a disappointment for New Zealand record-holder Daniel Bell who was below his best in 54.75 for the 23rd fastest time to miss out on a place in the semi-final.
In other heat swims, the experienced Melissa Ingram, preparing for her main event in the 200 metre backstroke, was an agonising 9/100th of a second off qualifying in the 100 metre backstroke.
She clocked 1:01.48, half a second outside her best this year, to record the 17th fastest time to miss out on the semi-finals by one place.
Earlier 19-year-old Matt Stanley from the Matamata club now swimming under Scott Talbot at Swimming New Zealand's High Performance Centre, produced a big personal best in the 200m freestyle.
He recorded 1:48.93 for the 23rd fastest time and the first time under the 1:50 barrier as he closes within 1.3 seconds of Danyon Loader's long standing national record.
This afternoon Glenn Snyders competes in the 50 metre breaststroke, Lauren Boyle in the heats of the 200 metre freestyle and Dylan Dunlop-Barrett in heats of the 800 metre freestyle, before Kean races in the final of the 100 metre backstroke later tonight (10pm NZ time).
