Coach thrilled with Doyle’s performance and maturity

CARINA Doyle certainly made the most of her time on the Gold Coast.

The 24yearold swimmer, formerly of Dunedin, concluded a successful first Commonwealth Games this week, notching two personal bests in the process.

After originally being picked for the 4x100m freestyle team, she gained entry to the 100m, 200m and 400m individual freestyle races.

She then swam a time of 4min 13.33sec in her 400m heat, a twosecond personal best and enough to qualify for the final. There she finished eighth, but still managed a handy time of 4min 15.89sec.

Her times of 56.27sec and 2min 00.01sec in the 100m and 200m respectively were also strong performances, and she swam the fastest split in the relay in 55.36sec.

The New Zealand team placed fourth in the relay, although the performance of the Australian team made that race one to remember.

‘‘Getting to swim with the relay girls on night one in what was a worldrecord time by the Aussies, I think that was a pretty special moment for her, rubbing shoulders with that type of crowd,’’ Doyle’s coach, Andrew McMillan, said.

‘‘Then individually getting through to the final of the 400m and getting one step closer to how we want to be racing in the future.’’

McMillan was thrilled with Doyle’s performances, particularly given she had focused a lot on swimming the 100m well for the relay.

A 400m race was very different biomechanically, which made her personalbest time all the more impressive.

That speed paid off and her leg of the relay had pleased her.

‘‘She ended up having the fastest split in the relay, so she was pretty proud of everything she did.

‘‘She was the top female [New Zealand swimming] ablebodied performer of the Commonwealth Games, making the final in 400m free. So that was pretty special for her — just climbing up through the rankings and show ing a lot of maturity on the big stage.’’

Racing on the first and last day of the swimming meant maintaining focus was a challenge for Doyle. However, McMillan said she handled it well.

‘‘She did a really good job of managing herself throughout the Games. The feedback I got from the coaches was that she was setting a real good example and showed a lot of maturity; everything a coach wants to hear.’’

McMillan hoped the experience would act as a springboard for Doyle.