Quilter through to finals at World Uni Games

North Shore's Laura Quilter is the first New Zealand swimmer to win through to the finals after the opening day of competition at the World University Games in Korea.

Quilter will contest the final of the 50m butterfly tonight in Gwangju after finishing third in her semi-final and equal fifth fastest overall.

The former Gisborne swimmer clocked 26.71s to force her way into her first international final, a blink outside her personal best set in the 2014 Olympic trials, with the competition led by China’s Ying Lu in 26.05.

Earlier in the day the 23 year old, who attends Massey University in Albany, clocked 27.12 to be 12^th fastest in the heats.

The performance surprised Quilter who has been focussing more on freestyle.

“I was happy with the swim this morning not having trained any butterfly so I was really pleased tonight,” Quilter said.

“The aim was to progress my time and improve my ranking. My aim is to go faster with each swim and go under my personal bests. Watching the tape I have huge gains still to make with my start and finish.

“This is my first final of an international meet so I am ecstatic.”

Otago swimmer Kate Godfrey, like Quilter attending her second World University Games, bettered her previous best but missed out on a place in the final of the 200m backstroke.

The Neptune club swimmer attending Otago University clocked 2:14.77 to be sixth in her semi-final, bettering her previous best time set at the New Zealand Open Championships in April.

Her time was 13^th fastest overall with the American Lisa Brutton leading the way on 2:11.08. Earlier Godfrey finished 15^th fastest in heats in 2:15.74 to make it into the semi-finals.

Quilter will be back in the pool among six New Zealanders in action on the second morning of heats, competing in the 100m freestyle with US-based Aucklander Georgia Marris. Also competing will be Ewan Jackson and Michael Mincham in the 200m freestyle, Natasha Lloyd in the 100m breaststroke and Monique King in the 1500m freestyle.

CAPTION: Laura Quilter in action (Credit: BW Media)