Auckland swimmer Corey Main missed out on the finals on the fifth day of the world swimming championships in Kazan, Russia, yesterday.
The Florida University student, who was a finalist at the Commonwealth Games and the pan-Pacific championships last year, finished eighth in his 200m backstroke semifinal.
Main, in his first world championships, decided on an aggressive approach to his semifinal and dashed strongly to be fourth at the 50m turn. However he was unable to sustain that effort, finishing eighth in 1min 59.50sec.
Earlier in the day, he clocked an excellent 1min 58.22sec in his heat to finish 14th fastest and earn a spot on the evening programme.
Main started conservatively, outside the fastest 20 swimmers through the 100m, but was among just 10 swimmers who went under the one minute mark for his second 100m and only 0.5sec outside his personal best.
Meanwhile, victory in his heat was not enough to earn Glenn Snyders a place in the semifinals of the 200m breaststroke.
Star sprinters Adam Peaty and Cameron van der Burgh also did not advance in the 200m event.
Snyders won his heat in a respectable 2min 12.71sec to be 23rd fastest, 1.6sec off the final qualifying mark. German Marco Koch led all qualifiers in 2min 9.12sec.
Four New Zealand swimmers were scheduled to race overnight.
Fifteen-year-old Bobbi Gichard was contesting her favoured 200m backstroke, Waikato's Bradlee Ashby was competing in the 100m butterfly, and Lauren Boyle and Emma Robinson were entered in heats of the 800m freestyle.
