Fairweather Adds Bronze & NZ Relay Delivers Record-Breaking Swim

Day Three Wrap – 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships

It was another action-packed day for our New Zealand team at the 2026 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships, with a bronze medal and a New Zealand relay record highlighting the day's action.

Erika Fairweather (North Shore – coached by Graham Hill) continued her fine form to claim her second medal of the meet, winning bronze in the women's 400m freestyle.

Competing in Irvine, California, Fairweather went out hard and spent much of the race battling the USA's Katie Ledecky for second, as Australia's Lani Pallister stormed ahead.

14-time Olympic medallist Ledecky found a late burst over the final 150m to take silver in 4:00.15, with Fairweather securing bronze in 4:02.35. Pallister won gold in 3:58.42, the only swimmer in the field to break four minutes.

This is Fairweather's second medal of the meet, with the 22-year-old also winning bronze in the 200m freestyle on day one.

Later in the session, Fairweather teamed up with Chelsey Edwards (North Shore – coached by Graham Hill), Zoe Pedersen and Milan Glintmeyer (both of Coast – coached by Michael Weston), to break the New Zealand record and claim fourth place in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay.

Fairweather backed up from her medal win, leading the team off in a blistering 54.25, less than half a second outside of the New Zealand 100m freestyle record. Edwards split 54.29, with Pedersen delivering a 54.54 split over the third 100m before 18-year-old Glintmeyer anchored the team home in 55.30.

The team combined well to break the New Zealand record in a time of 3:38.38, almost three seconds faster than the previous record from 2012. The time saw them place fourth overall.

In the men's event, the quartet of Cameron Gray, Lewis Clareburt, Zac Dell and James Leigh finished fifth among the eligible national teams, with both the USA and Canada fielding two teams.

Cameron Gray led the team off, clocking 49.31 on the opening leg of the race. Lewis Clareburt laid down a split of 48.49 over the second 100m before handing it over to Zac Dell who followed suit with a 48.82 split. James Leigh anchored the relay in 51.37, stepping down to the sprint from his preferred middle-distance events. The team finished in 3:17.99.

Hazel Ouwehand (Phoenix – coached by David Lyles) lined up for her first championship final of the week in the women's 100m butterfly, after posting a strong 58.77 in the heats. Ouwehand wound up placing eighth in the final, clocking 59.87, competing in a field that included world record holder Gretchen Walsh.

James Leigh (Coast / Marist – coached by James Boyce) got his first taste of an individual final when he lined up for the B final of the men's 400m freestyle. While not originally slated to compete, Leigh got called up for reserve duties after fellow New Zealander Lewis Clareburt withdrew from the B final after clocking 3:53.74 in the heats. The 19-year-old improved on his heats performance, finishing eighth in the B final with a time of 3:54.33.

Alyssa Tapper (St Peter's / Griffith University – coached by Tommy Fraser-Holmes) was one of the standouts in the morning heats, smashing her personal best in the 400m freestyle to place 21st in 4:13.55. Eve Thomas (Coast – coached by Michael Weston) was also in action, clocking 4:12.12 to place 17th – narrowly missing out on the B final.

In the heats of the women's 200m backstroke, Milan Glintmeyer finished in 2:15.43 to qualify for the B final. Glintmeyer, however, scratched from the final.

Tomorrow is the final day of racing, with day four set to feature ten New Zealand swimmers amongst the action.

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Follow Swimming NZ on Instagram (@swimming_nz) and Facebook, and keep an eye on our website, to stay up to date with all the swimming action from Irvine.

You can find the schedule and results via the link below. This competition will be streamed live on the USA Swimming YouTube channel.

Schedule & Results

Livestream

Daily schedule

*Asterisk denotes potential finalist, subject to qualification or confirmation of the distance-event start list. Relay line-ups are still to be confirmed.

Day Four

Heats – from 5am NZST, Sunday 16 August

• Men’s 200m individual medley (Clareburt)

• Women’s 50m freestyle (Edwards & Pedersen)

• Men’s 50m freestyle (Klouwens, Gray & Dell)

• Women’s 800m freestyle (Deans & Tapper)

Finals (*subject to qualification) – from 2pm NZST

• Men’s 200m individual medley (Clareburt*)

• Women’s 50m freestyle (Edwards* & Pedersen*)

• Men’s 50m freestyle (Klouwens*, Gray* & Dell*)

• Women’s 800m freestyle (Fairweather & Thomas)

Results by Swimmer

Lewis Clareburt

• Men's 200m freestyle – 3rd place in B final (B final: 1:46.47; heat: 1:47.41)

• Men's 400m individual medley – 6th place in A final (A final: 4:09.86; heat: 4:13.33)

• Men's 4x200m freestyle – 6th place (final: 7:18.25)

• Men's 400m freestyle – scratched from B final (heat: 3:53.74)

• Men's 4x100m freestyle – 5th place (final: 3:17.99)

Caitlin Deans

• Women's 1500m freestyle – 5th place (timed final: 16:07.44 – PB)

Zac Dell

• Men's 100m backstroke – 8th place in B final (B final: 56.65; heat: 54.78)

• Men's 100m freestyle – 30th place (heat: 49.71 – PB)

• Men's 4x200m freestyle – 6th place (final: 7:18.25)

• Men's 4x100m freestyle – 5th place (final: 3:17.99)

Chelsey Edwards

• Women's 100m freestyle – 4th place in B final (B final: 54.82; swim-off: 54.47 – PB; heat: 54.66 – PB)

• Women's 4x100m freestyle – 4th place (final: 3:38.38 – NZ record)

Erika Fairweather

• Women's 200m freestyle – bronze medal (A final: 1:55.05 – NZ record; heat: 1:55.53)

• Women's 400m freestyle – bronze medal (A final: 4:02.35; heat: 4:04.50)

• Women's 4x100m freestyle – 4th place (final: 3:38.38 – NZ record)

Amber George

• Women's 100m backstroke – 7th place in B final (B final: 1:01.32; heat: 1:01.42)

• Women's 50m backstroke – 7th place in A final (A final: 28.15; heat: 28.11)

Milan Glintmeyer

• Women's 100m backstroke – 3rd place in B final (B final: 1:00.74; heat: 1:00.34 – 18 years NZR)

• Women's 50m backstroke – 5th place in B final (B final: 28.25 – 18 years NZR; heat: 28.49)

• Women's 200m backstroke – scratched from B final (heat: 2:15.43)

• Women's 4x100m freestyle – 4th place (final: 3:38.38 – NZ record)

Cameron Gray

• Men's 50m butterfly – 7th place in B final (B final: 24.10; heat: 24.04)

• Men's 100m freestyle – 8th place in B final (B final: 50.19; heat: 49.08)

• Men's 4x200m freestyle – 6th place (final: 7:18.25)

• Men's 4x100m freestyle – 5th place (final: 3:17.99)

James Leigh

• Men's 200m freestyle – 33rd place (heat: 1:49.95)

• Men's 4x200m freestyle – 6th place (final: 7:18.25)

• Men's 400m freestyle – 8th place in B final (B final: 3:54.33; heat: 3:54.66)

• Men's 4x100m freestyle – 5th place (final: 3:17.99)

Savannah-Eve Martin

• Women's 100m backstroke – 23rd place (heat: 1:02.41)

• Women's 50m backstroke – 3rd place in B final (B final: 27.97 – PB; heat: 28.32)

Hazel Ouwehand

• Women's 50m butterfly – 1st place in B final (B final: 26.13; heat: 26.72)

• Women's 100m butterfly – 8th place in A final (A final: 59.87; heat: 58.77)

Zoe Pedersen

• Women's 50m butterfly – 7th place in A final (A final: 26.45; heat: 26.62)

• Women's 100m freestyle – 30th place (heat: 55.57)

• Women's 4x100m freestyle – 4th place (final: 3:38.38 – NZ record)

Alyssa Tapper

• Women's 200m freestyle – 37th place (heat: 2:02.34)

• Women's 400m freestyle – 21st place (heat: 4:13.55 – PB)

Eve Thomas

• Women's 200m freestyle – 27th place (heat: 1:59.78)

• Women's 400m freestyle – 17th place (heat: 4:12.12)

New Zealand Team

Name	Organisation	Role
Graham Hill	Swimming NZ & North Shore	Head Coach
Andy McMillan	United	Assistant Coach
Michael Weston	Coast	Assistant Coach
Monique Williams	North Shore	Team Manager

Name	Club	Coach
Lewis Clareburt	United	Jol Finck (Nunawading)
Caitlin Deans	Neptune & Swim Dunedin	Lars Humer
Zac Dell	United	Bobby Jovanovich (Brisbane Grammar)
Chelsey Edwards	North Shore	Graham Hill
Erika Fairweather	North Shore	Graham Hill
Amber George	Coast	Michael Weston
Milan Glintmeyer	Coast	Michael Weston
Cameron Gray	United	Andy McMillan
Harrison Klouwens	United	Mitch Nairn
James Leigh	Coast	James Boyce (Marist)
Savannah-Eve Martin	Coast	Michael Weston
Hazel Ouwehand	Phoenix Aquatics	David Lyles
Zoe Pedersen	Coast	Michael Weston
Alyssa Tapper	St Peter's	Tommy Fraser-Holmes (Griffith University)
Eve Thomas	Coast	Michael Weston