Photo / Swimming New Zealand
Ngāi Tahu swimmer Erika Fairweather has smashed a national record in the 200m freestyle on day two of the NZ Swimming Championships in Tāmaki Makaurau.
The 19-year-old - who made the final of the women's 400m freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics - shaved more than a second off her own national record set earlier this year during her first heat in the pool on Sunday morning.
Fairweather gasped upon seeing her 1:55.63s time - three seconds under the qualification mark for the world championships.
"It gave me a bit of a surprise. It was more than a second PB, and I'd just done a PB a few weeks ago. So I wasn't expecting that - but it was really awesome."
The Dunedin-based swimmer was thrilled to rack up a world championship qualifying time first time out.
"It was a pretty cool thing to do in a heat swim," said Fairweather.
"It felt fast but it also felt controlled so it was really great to see that time on the board at the end of the swim."
Fairweather is back in action in the final this evening.
Commonwealth Games gold medalist Lewis Clareburt (Tainui) won his 400m individual medley final on Saturday, finishing in 4:14.78s. But the 23-year-old says he knows he can go quicker.
"It's nice to get that world champs spot ticked off but I didn't swim at my best tonight.
"It's been a while since I've competed properly so I'll now have a look at my splits and work out where I can improve."