Kiwi pair genuine medal contenders at Olympics
Lewis Clareburt and Erika Fairweather loom as genuine medal contenders among the nine New Zealanders expected to swim at the Paris Olympics.
Clareburt will be chasing a medal in the men’s 400 metre Individual Medley, while fellow world champion Fairweather is set to be part of what may be the highlight of the swimming programme at the 2024 Olympic Games when she contests the women’s 400m freestyle event.
“I’m often quite reticent talking about medal chances,” said Swimming NZ Olympic programme lead Gary Francis yesterday, after seven swimmers had met qualifying standards following the national championships in Hawke’s Bay last week.
But Francis admitted Clareburt and Fairweather should be in the mix for a place on the podium at the Games, starting near the end of July.
Clareburt won gold in the 400IM at the world champs earlier this year against a weaker field than usual, as many top swimmers skipped the event in Olympics year.
The 24-year-old won two gold and a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and was seventh in the 400IM final at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, after having qualified for the final as the second-fastest competitor.
“Lewis has been hunting a medal since Tokyo – that's been the target and it’s still there,” Francis said.
“He’s put himself in a position – if he keeps doing what he's doing, he's going to be right in the mix. A medal is the goal in the 400IM.”
Fairweather came to prominence at the Tokyo Olympics, when she made the 400 free final as a 17-year-old.
She won bronze in the 400 free at last year’s world champs, and won the title this year in Doha in February when her three biggest rivals – 2023 world champ Ariarne Titmus (Australia), US legend Katie Ledecky and Canadian teen Summer McIntosh all opted not to contest the event.
“We’ve seen the evolution of her into a truly world-class, top-of-the-tree athlete,” Francis said of the Dunedin 20-year-old.
“The reality is, despite the fact that she's now one of only five women to swim subfour minutes [in the 400 free], she's still in a race with the three fastest girls of all-time.”
“We haven't seen the best of McIntosh yet, Titmus is the world record-holder, she’s still getting faster, and Ledecky still isn’t showing any signs of slowing up at 27.
“So she [Fairweather] still has to close the gap.”
Clareburt will also likely swim in the 200IM and 200 butterfly, while Cameron Gray (100 freestyle), Kane Follows (200 backstroke) and Taiko Torepe-Ormsby (50 freestyle) are also expected to be part of the NZ men’s squad in Paris.
Fairweather will also likely contest the 200 and 800 freestyle while Eve Thomas has achieved qualifying times for the 400, 800 and 1500 free. Hazel Ouwenhand should get the nod for the 100 fly, while Laticia Transom and Caitlin Deans are expected to join Fairweather and Thomas in the team selected for the Games by the NZ Olympic Committee to contest the women’s 4x200 free relay.
“Overall, what we put on paper today probably exceeded what I expected,” Francis said yesterday.
“There's the odd swimmer that's not on there that I thought might be – Andrew Jeffcoat [gold medalist in the 50m backstroke at the 2022 Commonwealth Games] has had a bit of a rough run, while Michael Pickett has had a lot of disruptions over the past year and hasn’t been able to get back to the form that had him go 22.1 [seconds] a year ago [in the 50 free].
“A year ago, those two would have been on my list of those I’d expect to go, but in their place we’ve got Kane, Hazel and Taiko – they wouldn’t have been on the list and the times that they’ve produced have been really strong.”