Deans Finishes World Cup With Silver and Bronze in Astana
Competition Wrap – 2026 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup – Stop Three
Otago’s Caitlin Deans (Neptune & Swim Dunedin) claimed two medals at the final stop of the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Astana over the weekend, while Lewis Clareburt (United & Nunawading) came within 0.3 seconds of Danyon Loader’s open national record in the 400m freestyle, a mark that has stood since 1995.
It was a big weekend for Deans, who took on 2700m of racing across three days.
She opened the meet with silver in the women’s 1500m freestyle, clocking 15:48.38 to record the second fastest performance of her career in the event. It was a significant step up from her bronze-medal swim in Tashkent (15:55.24), and a seven-second improvement in the space of a week.
The following day she placed fourth in the 400m freestyle, touching in 4:01.41 and narrowly missing another podium finish by less than 0.4 seconds.
Deans then rounded out the weekend with bronze in the 800m freestyle, clocking 8:15.75. The time was faster than her silver-medal swim in Baku (8:17.51), and capped a series in which she reached the podium at every stop.
All three swims went under the qualifying mark for the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m), to be held in Beijing from 1-6 December.
Clareburt also impressed, coming within striking distance of two national records across the freestyle races, and going under the qualifying mark for the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) in both.
In the 400m freestyle, he stopped the clock in 3:40.76 to finish fifth, an improvement of almost three seconds on his swim a week earlier in Tashkent (3:43.57). The performance was just 0.3 seconds outside of Loader’s national record from 1995, which was a world record at the time, set at the World Cup more than 30 years ago.
He carried that form into the 200m freestyle the following day, posting 1:43.46 in the final to place fourth, just 0.02 seconds off the podium and less than three tenths of a second outside his own national record.
Clareburt also contested the finals of the 200m butterfly (1:54.09), finishing sixth, as well as the 200m individual medley (1:56.82) and 400m individual medley (4:12.18), placing seventh and eighth respectively.
Across the three stops of the series, Deans collected five medals, with a podium finish at every stop, while Clareburt set two national records in Baku and added further qualifying marks in Tashkent and Astana.
Results by Swimmer
Lewis Clareburt (United / Nunawading) – Aquablack #257
Stop One – Baku
200m butterfly – 4th place (final: 1:54.70; heat: 1:55.94)
200m freestyle – 7th place (final: 1:44.45; heat: 1:44.64)
400m freestyle – 6th place (final: 3:42.38)
200m individual medley – 5th place (final 1:53.64 – NZ record; heat: 1:56.03)
400m individual medley – 5th place (final: 4:03.02 – NZ record)
Stop Two – Tashkent
200m butterfly – 4th place (final: 1:53.41; heat: 1:57.53)
200m backstroke – withdrew from final (heat: 1:53.73)
400m freestyle – 5th place (final: 3:43.57)
200m individual medley – 6th place (final 1:53.97; heat: 1:56.63)
400m individual medley – 5th place (final: 4:04.26)
Stop Three – Astana
200m butterfly – 6th place (final: 1:54.09; heat: 1:55.21)
200m freestyle – 4th place (final: 1:43.46; heat: 1:44.08)
400m freestyle – 5th place (final: 3:40.76)
200m individual medley – 8th place (final: 1:56.82; heat: 1:56.62)
400m individual medley – 7th place (final: 4:12.18)
Caitlin Deans (Neptune / Swim Dunedin) – Aquablack #276
Stop One – Baku
200m freestyle – 8th place (final: 1:56.03; heat: 1:56.32)
400m freestyle – 4th place (final: 4:01.30)
800m freestyle – silver medal (final: 8:17.51)
Stop Two – Tashkent
200m freestyle – 6th place (final: 1:56.33; heat: 1:57.40)
400m freestyle – bronze medal (final: 4:01.76)
1500m freestyle – bronze medal (final: 15:55.24)
Stop Three – Astana
400m freestyle – 4th place (final: 4:01.41)
800m freestyle – bronze medal (final: 8:15.75)
1500m freestyle – silver medal (final: 15:48.38)
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