The best-laid plans of Otago swimmers Phoebe Williams and Shane Patience came adrift on the first day of the Junior Pan Pacs in Guam yesterday.
They expected to contest their specialist distance events on the fourth and final day of the pool events, but when they arrived on Guam they found the women's 800m and men's 1500m freestyle were to be held on the first day.
"They changed the programme to fit in with the 10km open water swim on the fifth day of the championships," coach Andy Adair told the Otago Daily Times yesterday.
Adair had carefully planned the swimmers' training and racing programme for the championships to get them to a peak on the fourth day.
They were both affected by the change but Williams coped better than Patience.
It was a learning experience.
"They now know that these changes can happen in international swimming," Adair said.
"They have to learn not to be affected by the changes."
The performance of Williams was pleasing because this was the biggest event of her swimming career and the first time she had competed outside New Zealand and Australia.
Williams finished eighth in the 800m final in 9min 08.7sec, a time just 0.5sec slower than her best.
There are 14 countries competing at the championships and each can qualify two swimmers for the final.
"It was her first swim at this level and under the circumstances Phoebe performed with credit," Adair said.
"She is only aged 16 and was competing against 18-year-olds. Phoebe was very nervous at the start but still managed consistent 34sec 50m-lap times."
Shane Patience missed out on the 1500m A final and finished fourth in the B final in 16min 35sec.
Auckland swimmer Daniel Bell (18) collected a gold medal on the opening night of finals.
Bell, who won multiple titles at last year's world youth championships, won the 100m backstroke title by nearly 1sec in 55.11sec, 0.5sec outside his New Zealand open record, with team-mate Gareth Kean, of Wellington, fourth.
North Shore's Shaun Burnett, Taranaki's Dylan Dunlop-Barrett and Rotorua's Kane Radford were the other New Zealanders who made A finals in the outdoor pool.
Burnett (18) was sixth in the 200m butterfly while Barrett (17) was fifth and Radford (18) sixth in the 1500m freestyle.
Bell cruised through his heat in the second-fastest time of 56.17sec.
Kean (17) was third-fastest in qualifying in a personal-best 56.38sec, but could not go faster in the final and was pipped for a medal by Japan's Takahiro Yamazaki by 0.1sec.
Eight New Zealand swimmers reached the B finals.
