Fairweather came just shy of going under the 4min mark at the national championships last night, winning gold with her time of 4min 00.62sec in Auckland. It shaved 00.35sec off her previous record set in March at the South Island championships, and makes her the sixth fastest woman ever over the distance.
The Neptune Swim Club swimmer was "stoked" to produce a quick final 200m to finish strong and felt she was close to breaking the 4min mark.
"When you’re that close it’s 100% on the mind," Fairweather told Swimming New Zealand after the race.
"I would have loved to have cracked it today, but obviously that didn’t happen. But I’ve got it in the back of my pocket — I know it’s going to come out soon, it’s just a matter of when."
Eve Thomas, of Auckland’s Coast Swimming Club, was second in 4min 8.4sec, while Fairweather’s Neptune club-mates Caitlin Deans (4min 12.28sec), Ruby Heath (4min 22.18sec) and Emilia Finer (4min 30.11sec) were third, fourth and eighth respectively.
Fairweather’s 400m result followed her impressive lap in the women’s 200m freestyle on Sunday.
She broke the national record during her heat with 1min 55.63sec and went on to smash that again in the final with her time of 1min 55.44sec to win gold and set another national and Otago record.
Deans also won bronze in the same race, finishing with a personal best of 2min 01.05sec, while Heath finished seventh in 2min 04.73sec.
Neptune’s Zac Reid also produced an incredible swim to claim gold in the men’s 400m freestyle ahead of fellow Olympian Lewis Clareburt, of Wellington’s Capital Swim Club.
Clareburt (3min 52.10sec) led for most of the race until Reid tactically pulled ahead in the final 200m to qualify for the world championships with his time of 3min 47.87sec.
Reid also secured silver in the men’s 200m freestyle, in a personal best time of 1min 48.65sec.
On Sunday night, Neptune swimmers Luan Grobbelaar won bronze in the men’s 100m breaststroke, finishing in 1min 03.41sec, Kane Follows won bronze in the men’s 100m backstroke, finishing in 55.31sec, and Neptune’s women’s 4x100m medley relay team (Rae Kwan, Finer, Nicole Lockie, Deans) won bronze.
They finished with a time of 4min 33.85sec to set an Otago record.
Two other Otago records were broken in the women’s 50m butterfly on Sunday. Esme Paterson swam a personal best of 28.34sec to break the record and secure ninth place and Poppy Henderson, swam 28.36sec — also a personal best — to finish 10th and break the women’s 17-year-olds 50m butterfly record.
The championships continue today.
