Clareburt into final with record
It’s time to believe the hype about Lewis Clareburt.
The Kiwi made a stunning start to his Olympic campaign last night, qualifying second-fastest for the 400m individual medley final with a national record.
Clareburt, regarded as New Zealand swimming’s best podium prospect since Lauren Boyle, clocked 4m 09.49s to beat a strong field home in the third heat.
Competing at his first Olympics, the 22-year-old showed no sign of nerves, with a text book performance.
With the top eight qualifying for the final, he swam the second-best time of the night, behind only Australian Brendan Smith (4m 09.27s).
In a major shock, pre-Games favourite and Japanese hope Seto Daiya will miss today’s 1.30pm final, after placing fifth in the last heat.
In lane three, Clareburt was second after the butterfly before accelerating in the backstroke to lead the field by 1.28s. He dropped to third during the breaststroke, before a powerful freestyle leg. Five swimmers were on the charge on the final lap but the Kiwi was good enough to edge ahead of the pack.
Clareburt finished 0.16s ahead of American Chase Kalisz, with David Verraszto (Hungary) 0.31s behind the Kiwi. Kalisz won silver in Rio.
Clareburt’s previous personal best, set earlier this year, was 4m 09.87s.
It was a cut-throat scenario in this event — with no semifinals — so there was only one chance to impress.
The Wellingtonian first caught the eye at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games with a bronze medal.
His standing was confirmed at the 2019 world championships with a
stunning podium finish, just the fifth Kiwi to medal at that level.
Zac Reid could not emulate Clareburt’s achievements, finishing sixth in his heat to miss qualifying for the 400m freestyle final.
The New Plymouth swimmer recorded 3m 49.85s, missing the final by over 4s and down on his personal best of 3m 47.74s. Reid gets another chance in the 800m freestyle on Tuesday.