Swimming New Zealand is celebrating an incredibly successful Apollo Projects New Zealand Swimming Championships which has seen seven athletes swim individual Olympic qualification times and four swim individual Paralympic qualification times.

Lewis Clareburt, Erika Fairweather, Eve Thomas, Hazel Ouwehand, Cameron Gray, Taiko Torepe-Ormsby and Kane Follows all swam under the Paris Olympic qualification times at the meet.

They were joined by Cameron Leslie, Lili-Fox Mason, Joshua Willmer and Jesse Reynolds who swam under the Paralympic qualification times.

Swimming New Zealand Olympic Programme Lead Gary Francis says they’re 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,” says Gary.

“I’d like to congratulate all the swimmers who hit those times and their coaches and support teams, as well as all the swimmers involved in this meet.

"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 at the Hawke’s Bay Regional Aquatics Centre saw Lewis Clareburt swim under the Olympic qualification time in the men’s 200m Individual Medley.

The Tokyo Olympian powering ahead of the rest of the field and showing his class to finish in 1:57.36s, just .1 of a second outside the New Zealand Record.

“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,” says Lewis.

“This has been a great week. We’ve had so many athletes make the Olympic qualification time which has been amazing.”

Lewis’s swim followed a huge battle between 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.

The crowd were on their feet as it came down to a sprint finish, with Fairweather pulling ahead to win 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,” says Erika.

“It’s been a great week and I’ve loved the whole experience here.”

After earlier setting a New Zealand record and hitting the Olympic qualification time in the 50m Freestyle Christchurch’s Taiko Torepe-Ormsby claimed the national title in the finals session, finishing in 22.08s.

“Definitely can’t complain about today, pretty happy overall,” says Taiko.

“Coming into tonight there was a lot less pressure after making that time this morning and I’m really pleased to get that title.”

16-year-old Monique Wieruszowski then set a New Zealand Record in the women’s 50m Breaststroke, flying across the pool in an impressive time of 30.38s.

Three-time Paralympian Cameron Leslie was also back in the pool after earlier swimming the Paralympic qualification time in S4 50m Freestyle. Leslie picking up the National Title in 38.32s.

In the evenings other racing Gabi Fa’amausili won the women’s 50m Freestyle in 25.13s, with Quinn Pike taking the multi class title in 30.80s.

Gina McCarthy won the women’s 200m Individual Medley in 2:16.58s and Chloe Gladwin took the National Title in the multi-class final of the same event in 2:46.37s.

Ian Chen (SM19) was then thrilled to set a New Zealand Record in the men’s 200m Individual Medley multi class final in 2:25.75s.

Larn Hamblyn-Ough put in a mammoth effort across the men’s 1500m Freestyle to take the National Title in 16:12.79s, while Josh Gilbert won the men’s 50m Breaststroke in 28.22s

The event was rounded out with Coast winning the 4x100m Women’s Medley Relay and Club 37 winning the 4x100m Men’s Medley Relay.

More than 180 athletes competed at the 2024 Apollo Projects NZ Swimming Championships, held across five days from Tuesday April 9th to Saturday April 13th.

The event was the final opportunity for New Zealand’s top swimmers to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.