Lockhart out to better N.Z. record

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 22

Lockhart out to better N.Z. record

PA Seoul The Auckland breaststroker, Richard Lockhart, wants to leave the Olympic pool today by bettering his New Zealand 200 m record of 2mins 22.12 secs. Lockhart, who has spent a lifetime training with support from his parents, has been in the doldrums since swimming a slow Imin 6.27 s 100 m on Sunday. “I feel like I’ve got to make amends for the 100 m in the 200 m to justify my selection. I want to swim a personal best,” Lockhart said. Anthony Beks gained selection for the breaststroke leg in the 4 x 100 m medley relay when he bettered Lockhart over 100 m by returning a time of Im 5.65 s on Sunday. Lockhart’s 100 m performance was well outside his best time of Imin 4.985. But with a personal best 200 m time about 5s faster than Beks, who will also be in the pool today, he is prepared to look on the bright side. “The 200 m gives the swimmers more room to rectify mistakes. “If you find you’re putting in a bad lap there’s always a turn at the end of the pool. This means you can get into your rhythm a lot better.” Major contenders for

today’s heats and final are Hungary’s Josef Szabo, the United States record holder, Mike Barrowman (2:13.74), the Canadian world record holder, Victor Davis (2:13.34),. the Russian sports instructor, Valeri Lozik and the En-' glishman Nick Gillingham. Rated at 35 in the field, Lockhart knows it will take a dramatic improvement for him to make either the final or the consolation final. He knows he’ll never be like the Hungarian Tamas Darnyi who broke a world record in the 400 m individual medley in the Olympic pool on Wednesday. Nor will he be a Matt Biondi who after defeats in the 100 m butterfly and 200 m freestyle this week was given a confidence booster on Wednesday. Biondi, the world record 100 m freestyier anchored the United States 4 x 200 m men’s freestyle relay team to victory in world record time of 7min 12.51 s over East and West German line-ups. But Lockhart is a determined character — a person who has swum competitively since his days at Otahuhu school when swimming was a family affair. At 25 the question for Lockhart must now be how long can he continue to race the clock?