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Day Six Wrap – 2025 World Para Swimming Championships

Rylee Sayer (Matamata) was the sole Kiwi in action on the penultimate day of racing at the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore.

The teenager competed in the women’s 50m freestyle S7, getting away to a solid start as she dived into the second heat. With 15 meters to go, she pushed up to share third place as the field bunched tightly toward the finish. Sayer finished fifth in the heat (35.07), just marginally behind Anna Bogatyreva (Neutral Athletes – 35.02) in the lane alongside. The heat swim qualified her through to her third final of the championships, this time as the eighth fastest.

In the final, the 17-year-old swam from the outside lane and executed a powerful dive and underwater kicks to surface alongside the leaders in the early stages. She utilised her kick throughout the swim to be in the hunt over the final 15m. The centre lanes got their hand on the wall first, with the World Record holder Mallory Weggemann (USA – 32.58) taking the gold medal ahead of Sara Vargas Blanco (Colombia – 32.99). Danielle Dorris (Canada – 33.67) won the battle for bronze, in a close tussle for the last place on the podium.

Sayer improved significantly from the heat to the final, touching seventh overall (34.35) in her second fastest time as an S7 swimmer, just 0.01 seconds outside her S7 New Zealand record from the NZ Age Group Swimming Championships earlier this year.

Sayer was pleased with her improvement from heat to final.

“It's been a big learning curve and I'm really proud of myself. I'm happy with improving from eighth to seventh and to represent New Zealand again.”

Sayer will return on the final day of competition for the women’s 100m freestyle S7.

Day Seven Preview

The last day of competition has three Aquablacks in action. Sayer will return for the fourth event of her debut campaign, whilst Asher Smith-Franklin (North Shore) will compete in the men’s 100m butterfly S14. Josh Willmer (Coast) will be in action in the men’s 100m breaststroke SB8, after waiting all week for the sole event on his programme.

Heats each day commence at 1pm NZST and the finals each day from 9.30pm NZST. You can find the detailed daily schedule and results for our team below.

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.

Entries & Results

Learn More about the Team

You can watch the livestream for free, live or on demand, on the Paralympics YouTube channel.

Watch Here

Daily Schedule

*Start times are subject to change, while finals are subject to athlete progression

Saturday 27 September

Day Seven Heats - from 1pm NZST

• Men's 100m breaststroke SB8 (Willmer)

• Women's 100m freestyle S7 (Sayer)

• Men's 100m butterfly S14 (Smith-Franklin)

Day Seven Final - from 9.30pm NZST

• Men's 100m breaststroke SB8 (Willmer*)

• Women's 100m freestyle S7 (Sayer*)

• Men's 100m butterfly S14 (Smith-Franklin*)

Swimmer Results

Cameron Leslie

• Men's 100m freestyle S4 (result: 1:30.78 in final = 6th overall, 1:34.43 in heat)

• Men's 50m backstroke S4 (result: 42.54 in final = Silver, 43.50 in heat)

• Men's 50m freestyle S4 (result: 37.44 in final = Silver, 39.06 in heat)

Rylee Sayer

• Women's 100m breaststroke SB7 (result: 1:46.33 - 6th overall)

• Women's 50m butterfly S7 (result: 37.30 in final = 5th overall & 2 x PB, 37.34 in heat)

• Women's 50m freestyle S7 (result: 34.35 in final = 7th overall, 35.07 in heat)

• Women's 100m freestyle S7 (entry time: 1:18.73)

Gaby Smith

• Women's 100m breaststroke SB9 (result: 1:19.56 = Silver & PB)

• Women's 200m individual medley SM10 (result: 2:40.00 = 8th overall)

Asher Smith-Franklin

• Men's 100m breaststroke SB14 (result: 1:12.24 = 14th overall)

• Men's 200m individual medley SM14 (result: 2:15.91 = 11th overall & NZR & PB)

• Men's 100m butterfly S14 (entry time: 58.87)

Josh Willmer

• Men's 100m breaststroke SB8 (entry time: 1:12.52)

Selected Team

The swimmers selected to represent New Zealand:

Name	Aquablack Number	Club	Coach
Cameron Leslie	272	Whangarei	Tom Onley
Rylee Sayer	Debutant	Matamata	Graeme Laing
Gaby Smith	274	Vikings & University of Queensland	David Heyden
Asher Smith-Franklin	Debutant	North Shore	Graham Hill
Josh Willmer	275	Coast	Michael Weston

The coaches and support staff selected to guide our Aquablacks are:

Name	Organisation	Role
Simon Mayne	Swimming NZ	Head Coach
Tom Onley	Whangarei	Assistant Coach
Elliot Snedden	HPSNZ	Performance Analyst
Amanda White	Swimming NZ	Team Manager