Clark Debuts in New Event at World Champs
- dale493
- Jul 19
- 6 min read
Open Water Wrap from the 2025 World Aquatics Championships
Louis Clark (North Shore) has made his Aquablack debut in the men's 3km knockout event, the first time it's been held at the World Aquatics Championships. Having previously represented his country in water polo and surf lifesaving, it remarkably means Clark has now competed for New Zealand at the highest level of three sports.
The open water swimming competition was held on Sentosa Island in Singapore, with the horizon filled with container ships and one of the busiest shipping ports in the world nearby. The 3km knockout sprint format consisted of two heats for a 1500m lap, with the top ten swimmers from the two heats progressing to the semi-final. Once the tenth placed swimmer of the second heat had finished, there was ten minutes until the semi-final got underway. The semi-final saw the top twenty swimmers race a 1000m lap, with only the top ten progressing through to the final 500m lap to battle it out for the medals.
Coming into the competition, the start list consisted of strong swimmers from both pool and the traditional longer distance open water, and the format was hyped up as an event that will draw more attention to the sport of open water swimming. And the competition across the men's and women's event didn't disappoint.
Clark was on the start line for the first heat when the horn blew for the beginning of the race. Getting away to an excellent start, Clark dove off the pontoon and had a good underwater to surface at the front in the middle of the pack. Clark quickly moved across to the hip of early leader Matteo Diodato (Italy) and settled into his stroke.
The conditions were choppy, with the wind starting to increase since the women's event that had taken place prior. The conditions appeared to suit Clark early on, as he settled into third place as they passed the first guiding buoy.
Diodato (17:00.90) cranked up the pace to establish a lead after the first turn, with Thomas Raymond (Australia - 17:03.80) and multiple Olympic champion Gregorio Paltrinieri (Italy - 17:03.90) creating a front group. They continued their early form to take the top three placings in the heat respectively. The top ten qualifiers were secured with a photo finish to determine the order of eighth, ninth and tenth, all finishing within eleven seconds of Diodato.
Clark paced his race from his early strong position, battling with Ilias El Fallaki (Morocco) at the finish line. El Fallaki (17:57.90) got his hand to the touchpad in 18th place in the heat, with Clark (17:58.40) taking 19th place. After combining the results from the second heat, Clark finished 39th overall in his first outing as an Aquablack on the international stage.
Clark acknowledged the challenging conditions for open water swimming after the race.
"That was a tough race with hot conditions in and out of the water, and a hot start too for the first heat. Would have loved to have gone through to the next round but it's been a great learning experience and makes me hungry to come back to race again."
Florian Wellbrock (Germany - 11:27.20) took control of the semi-final to out-touch David Betlehem (Hungary - 11:27.80) and Thomas Raymond (11:28.10) as the top three to progress to the 500m final.
Wellbrock (5:46.00) then blitzed the opening 50m of the final, to comfortably establish a lead at the first turn buoy and didn't look back from there. He rounded out his individual open water swimming campaign with his third gold medal of the championships to take a clean sweep, and also become the most successful open water swimmer in World Aquatics Championships history. David Betlehem (5:47.70) won the silver and Marc-Antoine Olivier (France - 5:51.10) the bronze, with the top three a clear cut above the rest of the field in the final.
In the women's event, Moesha Johnson (Australia) was hoping to make it a clean sweep of the individual open water swimming events. She led from the gun in the 500m final, with the German pool swimmer Isabel Gose closing the gap at the final turn. An all out open water battle ensued on the final straight, opening the door for others to fight for the medals. The lead group were five swimmers wide as the tactics came into play, restricting each other's line to the finish. However, Ichika Kajimoto (Japan - 6:19.90) saw a gap on the outside and flew home to win her country's first gold medal in open water swimming at a World Aquatics Championships, made even more remarkable as her swim cap was tangled in her hair like a parachute behind her. Ginevra Taddeucci (Italy - 6:21.90) won the silver before a photo finish was required for the bronze medal between Moesha Johnson and Bettina Fabian (Hungary). Upon review, they couldn't be split and were both awarded the bronze medal (6:23.10).
The rest of the New Zealand team will continue their preparations in Singapore over the next week, before the pool competition begins on Sunday 27 July. The heats will be from 2pm NZST and finals from 11pm NZST later that evening.
You can stay up-to-date with the action by following our social media channels for live updates and our website for wraps of the action taking place each day.
You can watch the livestream through the World Aquatics Recast platform by purchasing access from the link below.
Upcoming Daily Schedule
*Start times are subject to change, while semi-finals and finals are subject to athlete progression
Sunday 27 July
Day One Heats – from 2pm NZST
Women’s 400m freestyle (Fairweather & Thomas)
Day One Semis/Finals (potential) – from 11pm NZST
Women’s 400m freestyle final (Fairweather* & Thomas*)
Monday 28 July
Day Two Heats – from 2pm NZST
Women’s 1500m freestyle (Deans & Thomas)
Women’s 100m backstroke (George)
Men’s 100m backstroke (Harland)
Day Two Semis/Finals (potential) – from 11pm NZST
Women’s 100m backstroke semi-final (George*)
Men’s 100m backstroke semi-final (Harland*)
Tuesday 29 July
Day Three Heats – from 2pm NZST
Women's 200m freestyle (Fairweather & Tapper)
Men's 200m butterfly (Clareburt)
Day Three Semis/Finals (potential) - from 11pm NZST
Women's 1500m freestyle final (Deans* & Thomas*)
Women’s 100m backstroke final (George*)
Men’s 100m backstroke final (Harland*)
Women's 200m freestyle semi-final (Fairweather* & Tapper*)
Men's 200m butterfly semi-final (Clareburt*)
Wednesday 30 July
Day Four Heats - from 2pm NZST
Women's 50m backstroke (George & Martin)
Men's 200m individual medley (Clareburt)
Day Four Semis/Finals (potential) - from 11pm NZST
Women's 200m freestyle final (Fairweather* & Tapper*)
Women's 50m backstroke semi-final (George* & Martin*)
Men's 200m butterfly final (Clareburt*)
Men's 200m individual medley semi-final (Clareburt*)
Thursday 31 July
Day Five Heats - from 2pm NZST
Women's 100m freestyle (Tapper)
Day Five Semis/Finals (potential) - from 11pm NZST
Women's 100m freestyle semi-final (Tapper*)
Men's 200m individual medley final (Clareburt*)
Women's 50m backstroke final (George* & Martin*)
Friday 1 August
Day Six Heats - from 2pm NZST
Women's 50m butterfly (Pedersen & Quilter)
Women's 800m freestyle (Fairweather & Deans)
Day Six Semis/Finals (potential) - from 11pm NZST
Women's 100m freestyle final (Tapper*)
Women's 50m butterfly semi-final (Pedersen* & Quilter*)
Saturday 2 August
Day Seven Heats - from 2pm NZST
Women's 50m freestyle (Quilter)
Men's 50m backstroke (Harland & Jeffcoat)
Day Seven Semis/Finals (potential) - from 11pm NZST
Women's 50m butterfly final (Pedersen* & Quilter*)
Women's 50m freestyle semi-final (Quilter*)
Men's 50m backstroke semi-final (Harland* & Jeffcoat*)
Women's 800m freestyle final (Fairweather* & Deans*)
Sunday 3 August
Day Eight Heats - from 2pm NZST
Men's 400m individual medley (Clareburt)
Day Eight Semis/Finals (potential) - from 11pm NZST
Men's 50m backstroke final (Harland* & Jeffcoat*)
Women's 50m freestyle final (Quilter*)
Men's 400m individual medley final (Clareburt*)
Entries & Results
Lewis Clareburt
200m butterfly (1:57.06)
200m individual medley (entry time: 1:57.36)
400m individual medley (entry time: 4:10.44)
Louis Clark
Men's 3km knockout open water (39th overall, 19th in 1500m heat = 17:58.4)
Caitlin Deans
800m freestyle (entry time: 8:29.32)
1500m freestyle (entry time: 16:12.18)
Erika Fairweather
200m freestyle (entry time: 1:55.45)
400m freestyle (entry time: 4:01.12)
800m freestyle (entry time: 8:21.67)
Amber George
50m backstroke (entry time: 27.92)
100m backstroke (entry time: 1:00.84)
Finn Harland
50m backstroke (entry time: 24.88)
100m backstroke (entry time: 54.74)
Andrew Jeffcoat
50m backstroke (entry time: 24.89)
Savannah-Eve Martin
50m backstroke (entry time: 28.15)
Zoe Pedersen
50m butterfly (entry time: 26.15)
Laura Quilter
50m butterfly (entry time: 26.22)
50m freestyle (entry time: 25.26)
Milana Tapper
100m freestyle (entry time: 54.94)
200m freestyle (entry time: 1:57.95)
Eve Thomas
400m freestyle (entry time: 4:06.41)
1500m freestyle (16:07.46)
Team Selected
The swimmers selected to represent New Zealand:
Name | Aquablack Number | Club | Coach | Role |
Lewis Clareburt | 257 | Club 37 | Mitch Nairn | Pool Swimmer |
Louis Clark | Debutant | North Shore | Graham Hill | Open Water Swimmer |
Caitlin Deans | 276 | Neptune & Swim Dunedin | Lars Humer | Pool Swimmer |
Erika Fairweather | 266 | North Shore | Graham Hill | Pool Swimmer |
Amber George | Debutant | Coast | Michael Weston | Pool Swimmer |
Finn Harland | Debutant | Coast | John Gatfield | Pool Swimmer |
Andrew Jeffcoat | 279 | United | Andy McMillan | Pool Swimmer |
Savannah-Eve Martin | Debutant | Coast | Michael Weston | Pool Swimmer |
Zoe Pedersen | Debutant | Coast | John Gatfield | Pool Swimmer |
Laura Quilter | 245 | Coast | Self Coached, supported by Michael Weston | Pool Swimmer |
Milana Tapper | Debutant | St Peter's & Griffith University | Tom Fraser-Holmes | Pool Swimmer |
Eve Thomas | 270 | Coast | Michael Weston | Pool Swimmer |
The coaches and support staff selected to guide our Aquablacks are:
Name | Organisation | Role |
Graham Hill | Swimming NZ & North Shore | Head Coach |
Mitch Nairn | Club 37 | Assistant Coach |
Michael Weston | Coast | Assistant Coach |
Matthew Ingram | HPSNZ | Manager |
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