Strong Teams Named to Represent New Zealand

Announcement of New Zealand Swimming Teams for 2025

At the conclusion of the 2025 Apollo Projects NZ Swimming Championships, we were thrilled to announce four teams for respective international competitions that will be held over the coming months. A total of 34 swimmers have been selected to represent New Zealand at the international level in 2025 for their respective pathway.

Amongst the team announcements, there were six debutants selected as part of an Aquablack team for when they race at the 2025 World Aquatics Championships to be held in Singapore in July and August. Nine age group athletes have been selected to represent New Zealand at the 2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships in Romania this August. There are twelve swimmers off to Thailand for the 2025 World Virtus Swimming Championships and a group of seven swimmers selected for the Senior Development team to compete at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cups this October in Canada and the United States.

We would like to recognise and congratulate each of the athletes and their coaches, as well as the support team selected on each respective team.

2025 World Aquatics Championships

A team of twelve swimmers are preparing for the pinnacle competition for 2025 in Singapore, with a mixture of experience, six debutants and Aquablacks returning to the international stage. We are also delighted to be represented in the new 3km knock-out open water.

Congratulations to the team listed below who are selected to compete in Singapore in open water (19 July) and pool competition (27 July - 3 August):

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		Manager

We would like to acknowledge Hazel Ouwehand (Phoenix Aquatics - coached by David Lyles) who qualified for the team with her New Zealand record in the 50m butterfly, but has chosen not to contest the World Aquatics Championships this year for a myriad of positive reasons.

Other acknowledgements also for Chelsey Edwards (North Shore - coached by Graham Hill) and Cameron Gray (Coast - coached by Michael Weston) who both achieved relay selection standards over 100m, therefore being eligible had we been fielding teams.

2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships

A team of nine swimmers, two coaches and one support staff member have been announced for the 2025 World Aquatics Junior Swimming Championships. The team consists of three swimmers who competed at the 2023 event, including silver medallist Monique Wieruszowski (North Shore), and six swimmers who will make their first appearance at a World Aquatics competition.

Congratulations to the team listed below who are selected to compete in Romania between 19 - 24 August:

Name	Club	Coach
Milan Glintmeyer	Coast	John Gatfield
Daniel Kregting	Roskill	Josh Munro
Alyssa Lawson	Hamilton Aquatics & St Andrew's	Brad Hillier
James Leigh	Coast & Marist	James Boyce
Ariel Muchirahondo	Swim Rotorua	Aidan Withington
Zoe Pedersen	Coast	John Gatfield
Igor Russanov	Coast	John Gatfield
Alyssa Tapper	St Peter's & Griffith University	Tom Fraser-Holmes
Monique Wieruszowski	North Shore	Graham Hill

The coaches and manager to guide these swimmers are:

Name	Organisation	Role
John Gatfield	Coast	Head Coach
Aidan Withington	Swim Rotorua	Assistant Coach
Amanda White	Swimming NZ	Manager

2025 World Virtus Swimming Championships

The World Virtus Swimming Championships team recognises our top S14, S18 and S19 swimmers. The Virtus event is the global pathway link for them, where they will race in their respective II1, II2 or II3 classification.

This event is the second highest level they can compete in behind the Virtus Global Games. We are proud of how far this team has grown and developed since the 2023 Global Games in France, and it reflects the significant progress we have seen since introducing the S18 and S19 classifications to New Zealand competitions.

To qualify, these swimmers all met event qualifying times and were ranked within the top twelve New Zealand swimmers across the eligible classifications.

The team consists of eight swimmers who have competed at the international level previously. Four swimmers will make their debut, with Ian Chen (St Paul's), Chloe Gladwin (Whakatane), Quinn Pike (Hamilton Aquatics) and Jole Watkins (Pukekohe) representing their country for the first time.

Congratulations to the team listed below who are selected to compete in Thailand between 20 - 30 August:

Name	Club	Coach
David Beck	Club 37	Mitch Nairn
Jack Bugler	Blenheim	Shane Skehan
Joseph Blake	Hamilton Aquatics	Aly Fitch
Ian Chen	St Paul's	Graham Smith
Bailey Conlon	Swim Rotorua	Aidan Withington
Lance Dustow	Central Hawke's Bay	Alonso Fernandez Rodriguez
Chloe Gladwin	Whakatane	Mason Pickering
James Haydon	Club 37	Mitch Nairn
Tate Pichon	Club 37	Mitch Nairn
Quinn Pike	Hamilton Aquatics	Aly Fitch
Finn Russ	Selwyn	Ben Close
Jole Watkins	Pukekohe	Sheldon Kemp

2025 Senior Development Team

The Senior Development team will compete at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup series being held in Canada and the United States in October.

We want to recognise and congratulate this group as a significant step between age groups and Aquablacks. Within this team, we'd particularly like to recognise two members, Gina McCarthy (Hamilton Aquatics & RPC Waikato) and Harrison Klouwens (Club 37) who have been selected for this team alongside five other swimmers who have been announced in Aquablack or World Junior teams for 2025.

Congratulations to the swimmers selected who will be lead by Olympic Head Coach Graham Hill:

Name	Club	Coach
Amber George	Coast	Michael Weston
Finn Harland	Coast	John Gatfield
Harrison Klouwens	Club 37	Mitch Nairn
Savannah-Eve Martin	Coast	Michael Weston
Gina McCarthy	Hamilton Aquatics & RPC Waikato	Mat Woofe
Zoe Pedersen	Coast	John Gatfield
Milana Tapper	St Peter's & Griffith University	Tom Fraser-Holmes

We would like to make special mention of Milan Glintmeyer who met the qualification standards but is presently too young to be recognised on this team.

Other Team Announcements

Further announcements will be made in coming weeks and months for the team selections for the 2025 Tri Series (7 - 12 July in Ballarat, Victoria) and the 2025 World Para Swimming Championships (21 - 27 September in Singapore).