A new national record and two personal bests kick started Bermuda's swim challenge at the Commonwealth Games over the weekend.

While the five-strong team are considered rank outsiders in a competition almost totally dominated by the Australians and Canadians, Bermuda coach Gareth Davies will have been delighted at the way his charges began their campaign at Kuala Lumpur's impressive national aquatic centre.

Stephen Troake led the way in Saturday's 200m freestyle heats, clipping a second off his personal best and smashing team-mate Matthew Hammond's Bermuda record with a 2:00.12 to finish second behind Guernsey's Sean Rowe-Hagans.

Hammond, who considers the 200 his strongest event, had hoped to dip under two minutes in a much tougher heat, but finished in 2:00.31 for seventh place.

But there was joy for Trevor Ferguson, a late replacement in the team for accident victim Ronald Cowen, as he won his four-man heat in 2:04.6 to record a new PB.

None, however, qualified for the evening finals but hope to make amends for that in Tuesday's 4x100m freestyle relay when Stephen Fahy completes the quartet.

Fahy also enjoyed a fine swim in Sunday's 100m butterfly, finishing heat three in 57.26 which left him an agonising four hundredths of a second shy of qualifying for the evening's consolation final.

His heat was won in a new Games record time of 53.34 by Australia's Geoffrey Huegill.

Troake admitted the relay was their main focus this week but was delighted with his 200 time.

"It was really just a swim to get rid of the jitters. I consider the 100 a better distance for me,'' he said. "It was a lot more than I expected because at the worlds I swam three seconds slower.

"I'm hoping for another PB in the 100. That would set me up for the relay which we're all looking forward to.'' With originally 14 countries entered in the relay, but two having since scratched, Bermuda's boys fancy their chances of making a rare appearance in a main final.

"I think we can do it,'' said Ferguson. "I understand we've been seeded eighth out of the teams still entered. It's something we're all focused on.'' Earlier on Saturday, Bermuda's Alicia Mullan failed to find her best form in the 400m individual medley, finishing seventh and last in the consolation final.

The entire field of 15 had been guaranteed a place in one of the two evening finals and Mullan followed her heat time of 5:29.45 with 5:31.04.

But that was a long way off her best of 5:14.95. Gold went to Canada's Joanne Malar in 4:43.74.

Today Troake and Hammond find themselves side by side in lanes four and five of heat two in the 100m freestyle while Fahy goes in heat three. Mullan is again guaranteed a place in one of the two finals as only 16 swimmers are entered for the 400m freestyle in which she competes in the opening heat.

Elsewhere over the weekend, Bermuda's gymnasts finished last out of ten teams at their first appearance at a major Games and none of the four girls advanced to the individual competition.

But they were all smiles as they skipped out of the deafening Putra Stadium brought alive by 15,000 foot-stomping spectators who cheered every move.

"It was wonderful. We had a blast,'' said Jenny Wright who compiled Bermuda's best individual score from the four disciplines -- beam, floor exercise, vault and uneven bars.

Coach Walid Mustafa had hoped for a team score of around 90 which he believed would be enough to beat closest rivals Namibia. And had Laura Murphy and Christina White not suffered uncharacteristic slips on the beam -- generally considered their strongest event -- his wish might have come true.

But Bermuda had to settle for a final score of 88.222 compared to Namibia's 90.022. Australia (111.408) took gold, England (110.640) silver and Canada (108.884) the bronze.

"I was really happy except for the beam,'' admitted Murphy. "But the atmosphere was nerve-racking. I think we were all a bit nervous in front of such a big crowd.'' Shooters Sinclair Raynor and Walter Trott were back on the range in the fullbore pairs rifle at Langkawi. But results had not been posted at press time.

SWIMMING SW