Fairweather posts top time in 200m heats
Erika Fairweather has bounced back from her shock disqualification in the 400 metres freestyle to post the fastest time in the 200m heats at the world champs in Singapore.
The former Dunedin swimmer relocated to Auckland earlier this year.
Her 400 title defence was ruined by a false start in Sunday's heats but the 21-year-old had no trouble in the shorter distance today, leaving Olympic champion Mollie O'Callaghan in her wake at the World Aquatics Championships Arena.
Fairweathe was runner-up in the 200 at last year's championships in Doha. She charged into the Singapore semis with a time of 1:56.54s, 0.20s better than American Erin Gemmell and a half-second quicker than third-fastest O'Callaghan.
Tunisia's Ahmed Jaouadi, the 1500 freestyle short course world champion, took top seed in the men's 800 in 7:41.58, ahead of Australian Sam Short, who took silver in the 400 on Sunday.
Ireland's Olympic gold medallist Daniel Wiffen sneaked into the final along with Paris 400 champion Lukas Maertens, who beat Short for the world 400.
Italy's Simone Cerasuolo was fastest into the men's 50 breaststroke semi-finals (26.42), while American Luca Urlando was quickest into the men's 200m butterfly semi-finals (1:52.71).
Five gold medals are up for grabs in the evening session, with American great and world record holder Katie Ledecky favourite to claim a sixth 1500m freestyle crown and record-extending 22nd world title.
Olympic champion David Popovici will go for gold in the men's 200 freestyle, while Australia's backstroke queen Kaylee McKeown will battle American Regan Smith for the 100 title.
American Kate Douglass, the Olympic 200 breaststroke champion, will look to add the world 100 title to her collection.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
2 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Deans finishes with personal best
Caitlin Deans (right), alongside Australian Moesha Johnson, looks at the board after the 800m freestyle at the world championships in Singapore yesterday. PHOTO: SUPPLIED Saving the best for last. Dunedin swimmer Caitlin Deans wrapped up an admirable world championships in Singapore with a top 10 finish and a personal best in the women's 800m freestyle yesterday. The Neptune swimmer touched the wall in 8min28.72sec in a big personal best, lowering the time of 8min29.3sec she set at the national championships earlier this year. Deans finished 10th overall in the 800m discipline after being drawn in a stacked heat against United States great Katie Ledecky, Australian Lani Pallister and German Isabel Gose, who are in the top four seeds for the final. Former Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather, also in the same heat as Deans, qualified sixth for tonight's final in 8min22.22sec. Earlier in the week, Deans, who represented New Zealand at the Paris Olympics, finished 13th in the women's 1500m freestyle in 16min13.16sec. Kiwis Zoe Pedersen and Laura Quilter, returning internationally for the first time since 2014, finished 24th and 29th respectively in the women's 50m butterfly. Lewis Clareburt. PHOTO: STEPHEN JAQUIERY Olympian Lewis Clareburt set a New Zealand record on his way to finishing fifth in the men's 200m IM on Thursday. Clareburt collected his second personal best of the championships when he touched the wall in 1min57.06sec, lowering the previous record of 1min57.27sec from the Tokyo Olympics. French swimmer Leon Marchand, who set a world record in the distance during the semifinals, won gold in 1min53.68sec. Shaine Casas, of the United States, was second and Hungary's Hubert Cos won bronze. Quilter is back in the pool in the women's 50m freestyle heats and Andrew Jeffcoat and Finn Harland are in the men's 50m backstroke heats today. Fairweather will race in her final tonight and Clareburt will be out to defend his title in the men's 400m IM tomorrow.
Otago Daily Times
7 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Call-up surreal even for veteran
Kelly Brazier looked down at her phone and saw the name she did not want flashing up at her. It was Black Ferns coach Allan Bunting ringing to let his players know if they had made the Rugby World Cup squad. Brazier had been told if she got the call from a position-specific coach, she was heading to England — but if she heard from Bunting, it was not good news. "His name actually came up on my phone so initially I was like, 'oh no'. Then next minute it was 'congratulations'," Brazier told the Otago Daily Times . "Just excited, happy and ready to get into work with the rest of the girls. "It's still pretty surreal." Brazier is the veteran of the squad at 35 and will join an elite club running out for her fourth World Cup later this month. The first five, who was named at second five in the World Rugby women's team of the 2010-19 decade, has nearly done it all in her career. She is a dual World Cup winner with the Black Ferns in 2010 and 2017, and won Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals, and World Cups, as a long-serving member of the Black Ferns Sevens. But the last couple of years left the 43-test stalwart — who had not played for the Black Ferns since 2021 until last month — hungry for more. The sting of being left out of the World Cup-winning squad in 2022 remained and injuries sidelined her for the Paris Olympics sevens campaign. "It's definitely up there," she said, when asked where the 2025 World Cup selection ranked. "The disappointment of not making that World Cup squad in New Zealand — I was absolutely gutted. "The last year and a-half, I guess battling a few sort of Achilles problems ... to finally be selected again, and be injury free, and get that phone call, I was over the moon and kind of felt like the first one all over again." Brazier, who grew up in Dunedin, made her comeback in Super Rugby Aupiki with Chiefs Manawa this year, and even after 15 years as an elite athlete, it was a shock to the system. "Even with Manawa the first week I was like, 'oh my God, what am I doing?' It was so hard. "Everyone used to complain about sevens was hard, but man, going back to 15s ... I was sort of questioning myself." Brazier, who was the top scorer (48 points) at her debut World Cup in 2010, was room-mates with Portia Woodman-Wickliffe — named for her third World Cup — at the first Black Ferns camp this year. They spent many late nights wading through information and game-plan changes and soon realised they had a lot to learn compared with their early days. "We'd be up until 10, 11 o'clock at night testing each other or writing in our books," Brazier said. "There was definitely a lot to learn, and different from when we were last in here, but I guess it's the challenge we want and excited from it." That spoke to the growth of the women's game, which Brazier said had been massive during her tenure. It was not lost on her how "surreal" it was to be heading back to England, where she played her first World Cup game 15 years ago. Back then, the final was played at Twickenham Stoop with a capacity of 14,800, whereas the 2025 final will be played at Twickenham Stadium with a capacity of 82,000. "Women's rugby has made massive leaps and bounds. "I think it's only going to continue that way as well, which is exciting." When she started, the Black Ferns seldom had tests before a World Cup — "now you've got 10 in a year." Tests were crucial for building towards pinnacle events and growing the game. "What you don't know, you don't know until you're put in those situations. "To have these opportunities now, and not even just the rugby, the chance to travel the world, experience different food, different culture ... "Probably why I've stayed in the game for so long is ... the experiences you get from it as well." But there is no place like home. Brazier left Dunedin in 2013 but has fond memories of the city and returned home for Christmas with her family last year. "I love going back home. It's my roots. "Obviously born and bred and proud to be from down there, which I think a lot of people don't realise because I've been gone for so long. "I'm definitely a Dunedin girl through and through — something I'm really proud of."
Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Otago Daily Times
Southern homecoming for Waldron
Joe Waldron will be a welcome addition to the Wingatui training ranks at the start of the new season today. Hailing from Otago, the former international eventer has returned to his home region to continue his training career after spending half a dozen years in Melbourne, and he is looking forward to plying his trade on home soil. "The decision to come home was mainly based around wanting to come home. I was missing the New Zealand lifestyle and family and friends," he said. Waldron also cited the increasingly competitive nature of racing in Australia as another major factor and felt the move back to New Zealand was the best choice to help further his training career. "Australian racing is becoming more top-heavy every season. It is dominated by the big stables," he said. "Realistically, you need to have 100 horses to be relevant, and I don't really have an ambition to train a huge team of horses. "Training in New Zealand, especially down here, you can have a smaller team in work and still be competitive, which I am really looking forward to." The New Zealand racing landscape has changed significantly since Waldron moved across the Tasman, and he said the growth in prizemoney was a massive lure to come home. "Entain has been game-changing for racing here and it is going to be cool being a part of it going forward," he said. Formerly based in Te Awamutu when initially training in New Zealand, Waldron said he felt the South Island was a better option for his return, and he has secured a dozen boxes at Wingatui. "We think the horses that we have brought over will be really competitive racing around here," he said. "They have all got good ratings where they should be able to win a couple of races. "The prizemoney is very similar for those rating races [as the North Island] and we think our horses will slot in well." The ODT Southern Mile Series is another massive drawcard, and Waldron believes he has a horse who will be ideal to target towards the $200,000 final next year. "We have got one horse in particular, Awesome Lineup, who is probably the ideal horse for that Southern Mile Series," he said. "It is really good prizemoney to be racing for." Waldron is enjoying training out of Wingatui, where he said he has been warmly welcomed, and he is looking forward to building on his team of half a dozen. "Everyone here is very welcoming, so it makes it very easy," he said. "We have got 12 boxes here, which is a really nice number to kick off with. We don't really plan to get too much bigger than that this [coming] season. Maybe next year we can build if we have a bit of success. "We have got six here in work at the moment and there are still a couple more to come in. Our first runners will be at Riccarton on August 6 with Carisbrook and Secret Beau, and we will go from there." Waldron has been joined on his new venture by his partner, Sarah Fannin, who has a wealth of experience in racing, highlighted by her last role as assistant trainer at Lindsay Park Racing, where she led the Pakenham barn for the Victorian juggernaut. "It is fantastic to have someone to bounce ideas off and I feel very lucky to have her," Waldron said. ''We both work really well together, which is cool." While pleased to be back home, Waldron said he was grateful for his time training in Australia, which helped him grow as a horseman. "It was a big learning curve," he said. "The last 18 months I was over there I did a bit of work for Annabel and Rob Archibald and the Lindsay Park team alongside Sarah, my partner, who was running the Pakenham stable for them. It was cool seeing how they do things. "I was lucky to learn from Murray [Baker] and Andrew [Forsman] while I was here [New Zealand], but you never stop learning in this game and it was fantastic to see how those guys do things too." Racing has always been a big interest of Waldron's, but his first love was eventing, and he excelled in the sport, representing New Zealand several times before transitioning to racing and working as travelling foreman for Cambridge trainers Baker and Forsman several years ago. "I come from a three-day eventing background and I represented New Zealand a couple of times eventing and in the young rider team and senior team," Waldron said. "I always had a passion for racing and that led to riding a bit of trackwork, which led to the travelling role with Murray and Andrew, and it progressed from there. "I always wanted to train myself and after a couple of years with them I kicked off at Waipa, we had a little bit of luck, and then had six years in Aussie." The move back to New Zealand has been in the works for some time and Waldron is excited to finally be back on home soil and commence a new challenge. "It has been a long time in the planning getting back here," he said. "Sarah had such a good job in Melbourne, and we had a super season last year which kept us in Australia a little bit longer while they were earning good prizemoney. "It's great to be back home and I am really looking forward to getting stuck into it here." — News Desk
