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Fairweather Sixth & Clareburt Books Spot in Final

Day Four Wrap of the 2025 World Aquatics Championships – Swimming


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Erika Fairweather (North Shore) and Lewis Clareburt (Club 37) were the headline performers again on day four, both featuring in the evening session with Fairweather in the women’s 200m freestyle final and Clareburt in the men’s 200m individual medley heats and semi-finals.


Fairweather raced in New Zealand’s first final of the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, competing against the best in the world in the women’s 200m freestyle. Having booked her lane three spot as the third fastest qualifier from the semi-finals the previous day, Fairweather got away to a good start to be with the leaders at the first turn in third place. The field was bunched together across the middle lanes as they hit halfway, with Fairweather in fourth locked in a line of contenders. Olympic Champion Mollie O’Callaghan (Australia – 1:53.48) utilised her world-class skills off the walls and underwater to push the pace through the second half of the race, leading into the final stretch where no one could catch her closing speed as she won the title for the second time in her career. Li Bingjie (China – 1:54.52) once again demonstrated her powerful surge in the final lap to come home with the silver with Claire Weinstein (USA – 1:54.67) edged out for the bronze. Fairweather was in the hunt with one lap remaining as the pace lifted in the final stages, with the New Zealand record holder finishing in sixth place. Her time (1:55.61) is the sixth fastest of her career, narrowly outside of her time from the semi-final and her New Zealand record set in 2023.


Fairweather will return for her final event, the women’s 800m freestyle, on day six alongside Caitlin Deans (Neptune & Swim Dunedin).


Fresh off achieving a personal best in the men’s 200m butterfly semi-final, Clareburt was back in action in the men’s 200m individual medley on day four. The two-time Olympian progressed through to the semi-final as the ninth fastest qualifier in the heats, having gotten away to a good start through the butterfly and backstroke laps. Clareburt held his own in the breaststroke leg to turn for home in fourth, flying home to narrowly finish second in his heat (1:58.19).


In the semi-final, Clareburt swam from lane two in the second semi-final, lining up next to two-time Olympic silver medallist Duncan Scott (Great Britain) who had Olympic Champion Leon Marchand (France) on his other side. Marchand had stated his focus at these championships was to break the World Record in the 200m individual medley, a record by Ryan Lochte that had stood since 2011, and he was all business from the start. Marchand blitzed the start and it continued throughout, obliterating the World Record by 1.31 seconds (1:52.69). Clareburt was strong through the opening to be fourth at the first turn and fifth at the halfway mark. He held his own in a battle to be sixth at the final turn, where he motored home in the freestyle leg to get his hand on the wall fourth (1:57.29). It’s the second fastest time of his career, just 0.02 outside his New Zealand record that he set at the Tokyo Olympic Games four years ago.


Clareburt was thrilled with his performance for the second consecutive day in a record-breaking race.

“Crazy day in the pool today. Being in a historic race with Leon Marchand breaking the World Record was nothing more than incredible. And to make it through to the final is a massive bonus and another opportunity. Got a lane, got a chance!”

Clareburt will return for the final on day five, having secured a spot as the sixth fastest qualifier. The session starts from 11pm NZST, with his final scheduled for 11.21pm NZST.


We had two swimmers in the women’s 50m backstroke heats. Savannah-Eve Martin (Coast) made her Aquablack debut from lane eight alongside club-mate Amber George (Coast) in lane seven of the fifth heat. Martin and George both went deep in their underwater from the start, achieving the exact same reaction time. George edged ahead of the Kiwis to touch seventh in the heat (28.54), notching the seventh fastest time of her career. She was narrowly ahead of Martin (28.74) who touched ninth in the heat with the sixth fastest time in her career. George finished 25th overall with Martin 29th overall on debut.


That concludes the debut campaigns for George and Martin in Singapore.


 



Other Results for Coaches from New Zealand

We would also like to acknowledge our coaches based in New Zealand who work with athletes representing different federations.


  • Josh Munro coached Kaiya Brown (Roskill representing Samoa) to 59th overall in the women’s 50m backstroke (33.48) and 31st overall as a member of the Samoa mixed 4 x 100m medley relay (4:24.22)

  • Jon Winter coached Kokoro Frost (Otaki Titans representing Samoa) to 31st overall as a member of the Samoa mixed 4 x 100m medley relay (4:24.22)

  • Sheldon Kemp coached Paige Schendelaar-Kemp (Pukekohe representing Samoa) to 31st overall as a member of the Samoa mixed 4 x 100m medley relay (4:24.22)

 

Day Five Preview

Milana Tapper (St Peter’s & Griffith University) returns for second event of the championships as the lone Kiwi in action in the day five heats. She will race the women’s 100m freestyle having claimed her first national title in the event at the 2025 Apollo Projects NZ Swimming Championships. Clareburt will return in the evening for the men's 200m individual medley final.


Heats are from 2pm NZST and the finals from 11pm NZST. 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


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)


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 (10th overall = 1:55.24 - PB in semi-final, 1:56.35 in heat)

  • 200m individual medley (into final, 1:57.29 in semi-final, 1:58.19 in heat)

  • 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 (13th overall = 16:13.16)


Erika Fairweather

  • 200m freestyle (6th overall = 1:55.61 in final, 1:55.52 in semi-final, 1:56.54 in heat)

  • 400m freestyle (disqualified)

  • 800m freestyle (entry time: 8:21.67)


Amber George

  • 50m backstroke (25th overall = 28.54)

  • 100m backstroke (29th overall = 1:02.16)


Finn Harland

  • 50m backstroke (entry time: 24.88)

  • 100m backstroke (22nd overall = 54.17 - PB)


Andrew Jeffcoat

  • 50m backstroke (entry time: 24.89)


Savannah-Eve Martin

  • 50m backstroke (29th overall = 28.74)


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 (21st overall = 1:58.75)


Eve Thomas

  • 400m freestyle (14th overall = 4:10.10)

  • 1500m freestyle (16th overall = 16:28.10)

 

 

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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