Joined by Eve Thomas and Laticia Transom, the Kiwi women finished eighth in 7min 55.89sec in a stacked finals field this morning (NZ time).
Mollie O’Callahan, Lani Pallister, Brianna Throssell and Ariarne Titmus, of Australia, won gold in 7min 38.08sec, setting a new Olympic record.
Claire Weinstein, Paige Madden, Katie Ledecky and Erin Gemmell, of the United States, took silver in 7min 40.86sec, while China's Junxuan Yang, Bingjie Li, Chutong Ge, and Yaxin Liu had to settle for bronze (7min 42.34sec).
New Zealand made history becoming the first Kiwi women to qualify for a relay final at an Olympic Games.
They qualified eighth for the final after finishing fourth in their heat last night in a time of 7min 54.37sec.
It marked Fairweather’s third final at the Games and a first final for Deans, on Olympic debut.
He failed to qualify for the final, bringing his Olympic campaign to a close.
Meanwhile, Taiko Torepe-Ormsby just missed a spot in the semi-finals of the men’s 50m freestyle, known also as the “splash and dash".
The 20-year-old smashed through the water in 22.01sec, placing him 19th among the 74 competitors in an event often decided by mere hundredths of a second.
Fairweather and Thomas are back in the pool tonight for the women’s 800m freestyle heats scheduled for 9pm (NZ time).
Fellow Kiwi Cameron Gray will also compete in the men’s 100m butterfly heat.
- additional reporting Team New Zealand
