Clareburt wins Glasgow gold, women's relay bronze
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Lewis Clareburt has won the first goldof the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with a stunning finish in the 200m butterfly final.
In a back-to-back performance to defend his title he clocked a time of 1m 55.05s - a personal best.
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He was seventh halfway through the race, 1.58 seconds behind the leader but then turned on the turbo to be the only swimmer below 30 seconds over the final 50 metres..
"I'm actually surprised at those splits. I felt like I was so slow out and just knew I would have enough left in the tank over the last 75.
"I never really hit the wall and had to rate up. There's no way I can redo that race again - it was stupid."
He won in 1min 55.05s, fending off Australian Harrison Turner and South African Matthew Temple.
Following shortly after was a bronze in the women's 4x200m freestyle relay, led by Erika Fairweather, with Caitlin Deans, Eve Thomas and Milana Tapper.
New Zealand was in a battle with England switiching places for silver and bronze behind the strong Australian combination.
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Australia eventually won the race in 7m 42.53s, England second in 7m 50.10s and New Zealand third 7m 51.94s.
Their medal is New Zealand's first in a Commonwealth Games relay since Delhi in 2010.
It was Fairweather's fourth medal of the Commonwealth Games. She joins the likes of Rebecca Perrott (1978) and Aaron Gate (2022) in this distinction.
New Zealand are eighth overall on the medal ladder - one gold, five silver and two bronze. .
