It was a much happier Erika Fairweather when she jumped out of the pool yesterday.
The Dunedin swimmer finished seventh in the women’s 200m freestyle final at the Paris Olympics in 1min 55.59sec.
Fairweather, 20, who was just outside her personal best time of 1min 55.44sec, rebounded after finishing fourth in her favoured 400m freestyle event days earlier.
She described the scenario as a "hard couple of days", but her ability to bounce back speaks to the calibre of athlete Fairweather has become since she made her Olympic debut as a 17-year-old in Tokyo.
"I’m super happy with that," Fairweather said after the race.
"Everything went according to plan. I put together a race I’m really happy with, so couldn’t be more stoked."
Fairweather was up against one of the toughest fields yet again, including world record-holder and defending Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus, who also won the 400m freestyle.
But it was Titmus’ Australian team-mate, Mollie O’Callaghan, who won gold after producing an explosive final 50m to set an Olympic record of 1min 53.27sec.
Titmus settled for silver in 1min 53.81sec, after O’Callaghan denied her the chance of becoming the first woman to defend the 200m and 400m freestyle Olympic titles.
Siobhan Haughey, of Hong Kong, who won gold at the world championships in Doha, won bronze in 1min 54.55sec.
Racing in lane one, Fairweather, who won silver in the 200m at the world championships, produced a steady race, remaining with the tight pack, but the Australian duo lead from the front and powered home for a double podium finish.
Focusing on enjoying the occasion of being in another Olympic final helped Fairweather.
"I just love having fun racing and I think that's just what I tried to focus on tonight -not the time or the outcome -just having fun with how I was swimming in the water," Fairweather told Sky Sport.
She was thrilled to see her family in the crowd -she gave her father a quick hug as she grabbed her accreditation, and knew her proud mother was also in the stadium -after there were no crowds in Tokyo due to Covid.
"It's so special having them here.''
A short break in her schedule allowed Fairweather to have some time off to watch the rest of the New Zealand team in the pool.
"I'm excited to have a morning [today] spectating and cheering on the rest of the team, but other than that, just prep for the next."
Training will continue for Fairweather, who still has the 4x200m freestyle relay and the 800m events to come in a busy Olympic campaign.
Next up she competes in the relay, alongside Dunedin’s Caitlin Deans, in a heat scheduled for 9pm tomorrow.
Lewis Clareburt was back in the pool last night in the 200m butterfly heat. He finished seventh in 1min 57.12sec.
Cameron Gray also made his Olympic debut in the men’s 100m freestyle heat, finishing sixth in 49.24sec.
Eve Thomas finished sixth last night in the 1500m freestyle heat in 6min 25.34sec.
Dunedin swimmer Kane Follows is back in action tonight in his 200m backstroke heat, scheduled for 9pm.
