Freestyler powers into the record books
Christchurch’s Taiko Torepe-Ormsby made one heck of a splash as the New Zealand Swimming Championships wrapped up in Hastings at the weekend.
No New Zealander had ever swum the 50-metre freestyle in under 22 seconds, but that all changed on Saturday as Torepe-Ormsby stormed into the record books in a time that doubled as Olympic qualifying standard.
The crowd at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatics Centre were left on their feet and in disbelief as Torepe-Ormsby powered to a morning heat win in a time of 21.86s in the marquee sprint event.
“I’m lost for words to be honest, I’ve dreamed about this moment for my whole life,” Torepe-Ormsby said afterwards.
“I’ve been going fast the last couple of days, doing the sets my coach told me and I just can’t believe I got that Olympic time.”
Torepe-Ormsby has been living and studying in the United States for the past three years, swimming for the University of Wisconsin. While competing there last year he had equalled the previous fastest NZ 50m free time of 22.11, which had been set by Michael Pickett at the NZ champs just four months earlier.
He then backed up his feats by winning Saturday night’s final in 22.08s.
“Definitely can’t complain about today, pretty happy overall,” Torepe-Ormsby said. “Coming into tonight there was a lot less pressure after making that time this morning and I’m really pleased to get that title.”
Torepe-Ormsby was one of seven swimmers to go under Olympic qualifying times at the event, with Lewis Clareburt, Erika Fairweather, Eve Thomas, Hazel Ouwehand, Cameron Gray and Kane Follows doing likewise, while Cameron Leslie, Lili-Fox Mason, Joshua Willmer and Jesse Reynolds swam under the Paralympic qualification times.
After what was the final opportunity for the country’s top swimmers to qualify for Paris, Swimming New Zealand Olympic programme lead Gary Francis said they were thrilled with the results.
“Our swimmers have really stood up at this meet, they’ve been world class and have left it all out there, we’re incredibly proud of them,” he said.
“There’s been a fantastic energy in this pool and the future’s looking bright for swimming in New Zealand.”
The final session of racing also saw
“I’m lost for words to be honest, I’ve dreamed about this moment for my whole life.”
Taiko Torepe-Ormsby
sixteen-year-old Monique Wieruszowski re-write the record books, breaking her own record in the women’s 50m breaststroke − a non-Olympic event − with a time of 30.38s in the final.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Olympian Clareburt powered his way to victory in the men’s 200m individual medley, just 0.09s off his own NZ record set at the 2021 Games.
“That was a good swim for me, I haven’t come anywhere near that record in three years so I’m definitely heading in the right direction,” he said.
Clareburt’s swim followed a huge battle between fellow Olympians Erika Fairweather and Eve Thomas in the women’s 800m freestyle final.
The pair went stroke-for-stroke for almost the whole race, with Thomas slightly ahead into the last 50m before Fairweather, more accustomed to the 200m and 400m events, pulled ahead in a sprint finish to touch in 8:21.67s, just ahead of Thomas in 8:22.27s.
“I’m a bit tired now, the 800 definitely takes it out of you but I'm happy with that result,” Fairweather said.
Ryan Fox experienced fluctuating fortunes as he lost touch with the leaders at the Masters yesterday.
The New Zealander, who began his third round at Augusta National Golf Club on a tie for eighth place, carded a disappointing five-over 77 to leave him four-over and well off the pace at the end of the day. He ended the day in a tie for 26th place. Fox, ranked 54th in the world, began his day in impressive fashion by carding three birdies and three pars in the first six holes before things started to get difficult.
The triple bogey on the par-four 17th hole was a tough way for him to approach the end of the round. He carded four pars, six bogeys and a triple-bogey.
“Yeah, it was a weird day,’’ Fox said afterwards. ”I had a couple of great shots early. Played some of the hard holes on the front nine, you know, three, four -- four, five, six pretty well.
“And then a bad three putt on seven and a couple of bad drives on eight and nine. If the putter had worked a little better, I could have maybe got away with those.’’
Fox added that he felt he played “great’’ on the back nine.
“I flagged one on 10 and it just went miles,’’ he said. ”Bad shot into 12, but got away with it. And then flagged one on 14.
“Probably everyone saw what happened
“Looking at the scoring, it’s pretty damn tough out there. It’s beating everyone up.”
Ryan Fox
on 17. That's one of the more unlucky breaks I've had on a golf course. It rolled in a crap lie and had no way of getting near it. Had a bit of a brain explosion on that putt and kind of ruined what was a really good round.
“I think if I had not had that flag on 17 and probably not making worse than four, maybe had a good chance at three and I'm still in the golf tournament. That kind of screwed my head a little bit.
“Made a good bogey in the end up the last. I kind of don't know what to think. I felt like I played really good and shot 77.’’
Despite making a bright start to his shift, maintaining momentum proved challenging and he shot four consecutive bogies between the seventh and 10th holes. Although he made an excellent recovery with an iron shot from near a tree on the par-four seventh, he required three putts to complete the hole.
That sparked the sequence of bogies, and he made his frustration clear when his tee shot on the par-five eighth hole strayed to the right of the fairway. “Oh, hang on, dammit,'” Fox said to himself.
The Kiwi was in more trouble off the next tee, at the par-four ninth hole, when he found the trees but kept his cool to fire his next shot to the edge of the green. That wasn't the end of his frustrations. His second shot in the par-fourth tenth bounced off the green, requiring a chip shot and two putts to card the bogey.
An impressive revival, with three pars and a birdie followed, before the disappointing bogey ahead of the 17th hole.
Fox required a pinch of fortune on the par-three 12th, his par shot went perilously close to rolling into the water, but unfortunately his luck ran out in the penultimate hole.
He hit the pin with his second shot, and the ball pinged back towards the fairway into a bunker. Although Fox negotiated the sand with aplomb to get onto the green, he required four putts and carded a three-over seven. That was followed by a bogey on the par-four final hole.
With a pinch of luck, Fox believed he could have been in a much better position ahead of the final day.
“Yeah, look, it's all there. As I said, if I had holed a few more putts through the middle part of the round it would have been really, really good.
“I holed a couple more towards the middle and end of the back nine. Yeah, just got a little unlucky in places, but I definitely know I can put a score together tomorrow.
“Yeah, it was nice to feel comfortable out there in that scenario, and just the golfing gods weren't overly kind to me today. I had a lot of good shots that didn't get rewarded.
“Looking at the scoring, it's pretty damn tough out there. It's beating everyone up this afternoon.”
Earlier, on Saturday, Fox made the cut for just the fifth time in his last nine tournaments and the second time in his last five after shooting two-over.
That left him one-under at the end of a day. Only eight players had under-par rounds, including co-leader at six-under Max Homa.
Fox is trying to join Frank Nobilo – who finished fourth in 1996 – as the second Kiwi to finish in the top 10 at the Masters.
The last Kiwi to finish in the top 10 at a men’s golf major was Michael Campbell in 2005, the same year he won the US Open.
Meanwhile, five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods recorded his worst round in a major as a 10-over 82 on day three at Augusta National saw him plummet to 11 over.
Woods, 48, started Saturday's third round on one over, having made a record 24th consecutive cut. He said after round two that “anyone who makes the weekend has a chance”.
However, he struggled to find fairways hitting only five of 14 - and that led to only the third time he had scored 80 or over at a major.