The Neptune swimmer fell just short of a personal best as she clocked a time of 8min 40.50sec in the 800m freestyle.
That was good enough for fourth place in the final of the race, at the Barcelona leg of the Mare Nostrum Tour last week.
Deans spent most of the race in fifth, before pushing in the final 200m to go past Portugal’s Tamila Hryhorivna Holub.
Italy’s Simona Quadarella claimed a comfortable victory in 8min 26.21sec.
She also finished sixth in the 400m freestyle at the same meeting, finishing in a time of 4min 13.26sec.
Quadrella won that race in 4min 06.18sec.
Deans will now turn her attention to the Fina world championships, which begin in Budapest on June 17.
There she will compete in both the 1500m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relay.
Fellow Dunedin duo Erika Fairweather and Ruby Heath will join Deans at the championships.
