NZ team selected for World Aquatics meet
- Dave Worsley
- Jul 23
- 3 min read
Tweleve swimmers, including two defending World Champions, have arrived in Singapore for the 2025 World Aquatics Championships.
The squad is a mix of seasoned athletes and rising talent, with six athletes set to make their Aquablack debut at the competition.
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Leading the team are defending World Champions Erika Fairweather (North Shore) and Lewis Clareburt (Club 37). The pair made history at the 2024 World Aquatic Championships, claiming New Zealand’s first ever world titles, with Fairweather winning the women’s 400m Freestyle and Clareburt the men’s 400m Individual Medley.
The pair are joined by their Paris 2024 Olympic teammates Eve Thomas (Coast) and Caitlin Deans (Neptune & Swim Dunedin), as well as existing New Zealand representatives Andrew Jeffcoat (United), who returns for his fourth World Championships.
Laura Quilter (Coast), a 2014 Commonwealth Games athlete making a return to the Aquablack team for the first time in 11 years.
The Championships began on Saturday 19 July with the open water events, where Louis Clark (North Shore) made his debut in the brand new 3km knockout event, placing 19th in his heat in a time of 17:58.40.
A further five athletes will make their New Zealand debut during the eight days of pool competition. Amber George and Finn Harland will contest the 50m and 100m Backstroke, Milana Tapper the 100m and 200m Freestyle, Savannah-Eve Martin the 50m Backstroke, and Zoe Pedersen the 50m Butterfly.
Two-time Olympian Lewis Clareburt has spent time training and racing in Europe, before returning to New Zealand to put the final touches on his preparation.
“It’s been cool because I've already had some international race experience before World Champs so I'm feeling ready and the preparation’s been going really well,” said Clareburt.
He says despite being defending champion in the 400m Individual Medley, he’s not feeling the pressure.
“My goal is to swim some fast times and enjoy the experience. The 400IM is going to be an amazing race. We've got Leon Marchand competing who is the world record holder, but the rest of the field is closing the gap between us and him, and I think I'm gonna be up there so I’m looking forward to it.”
Hazel Ouwehand the fourth fastest butterfly swimming in the world elected not to be selected for the World Championships.
Pool racing begins on Sunday 27 July, with daily heats from 2pm NZT and finals from 11pm NZT.
Entries:
Lewis Clareburt:
200m butterfly (1:57.06)
200m individual medley (entry time: 1:57.36)
400m individual medley (entry time: 4:10.44)
Louis Clark:
Men's 3km knockout open water
Caitlin Deans:
800m freestyle (entry time: 8:29.32)
1500m freestyle (entry time: 16:12.18)
Erika Fairweather
200m freestyle (enrty time: 1:55.45)
400m freestyle (entry time: 4:01.12)
800m freestyle (entry time: 8:21.67)
Amber George
50m backstroke (entry time: 27.92)
100m backstroke (entry time: 1:00.84)
Finn Harland
50m backstroke (entry time: 24.88)
100m backstroke (entry time: 54.74)
Andrew Jeffcoat:
50m backstroke (entry time: 24.89)
Savannah-Eve Martin
50m backstroke (entry time: 28.15)
Zoe Pedersen
50m butterfly (entry time: 26.15)
Laura Quilter
50m butterfly (entry time: 26.22)
50m freestyle (entry time: 25.26)
Milana Tapper
100m freestyle (entry time: 54.94)
200m freestyle (entry time: 1:57.95)
Eve Thomas
400m freestyle (entry time: 4:06.41)
1500m freestyle (16:07.46)
