Kiwi swimmers success at World Cup meet
Two New Zealand swimmers in action and two medals along with a couple of national records as well at the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup at Baku in Azebaijan.
Caitlin Deans (Neptune & Swim Dunedin) claimed a silver medal in the women's 800m freestyle, while Lewis Clareburt (United & Nunawading) rewrote the national record books twice, with both swimmers earning qualifying marks for December's short course world championships in Beijing.
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Deans had a strong meet over the distance freestyle events, capped by silver in the 800m, where she finished in 8:17.51, comfortably under the qualifying mark for Beijing.
The 27-year-old also finished fourth in the 400m freestyle (4:01.30), earning another qualifying mark and narrowly missing the podium, and eighth in the 200m freestyle (1:56.03).
The Dunedin swimmer is no stranger to the World Cup podium, having earned four bronze medals across last year's series alone.
Clareburt had a busy programme over the three days of racing, contesting five events and racing in the final of every event he entered.
In the 200m individual medley, Clareburt clocked 1:53.63 in the final, resetting Bradlee Ashby's New Zealand record from 2018 and earning a fifth-place finish. He backed that up in the 400m individual medley with another national record, 4:03.02, again placing fifth. Both events saw him clear the qualifying mark for Beijing.
He was also in the mix across the other strokes, taking fourth place in the 200m butterfly, sixth place in the 400m freestyle and seventh place in the 200m freestyle.
With a medal and two national records from the first stop, both swimmers head into the remainder of the World Cup series with momentum. Stop two of the World Cup series will see our New Zealand swimmers race in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from 8–10 October.
