Gilbert & Gasson Star On Day One
Aquablacks Josh Gilbert (Club 37) and Helena Gasson (Coast) were the shining lights on the opening day of action at the 2024 Apollo Projects NZ Short Course Swimming Championships. Taking place at the Sir Owen G Glenn National Aquatic Centre in Auckland, the community converged and brought plenty of energy from the get go as age group medals were decided during the morning session before the open finals in the evening.
Josh Gilbert produced the best swim ever seen by a Kiwi in the Men's 200m Breaststroke final. Having swum just outside the New Zealand Record during his morning heat swim, Gilbert looked strong from the start with excellent turns and pull outs to break Glenn Snyder's record from 2008 by nearly two seconds (2:04.57). It was the first time Gilbert has achieved a World Aquatics "A" qualifying time as he booked his spot on the New Zealand team for Budapest, a great performance on the opening night of the championships. Sam Brown (Coast - 2:10.37) continued to show his versatility across the strokes to win the silver, with Australian visitor Harrison Biddell (2:12.52) and Kiwi James Slessor (Waitakere - 2:12.61) both receiving the bronze.
Helena Gasson got the championships off to a flyer, securing two qualifying times during the morning session for the 2024 World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) to be held in Budapest later this year. Gasson demonstrated her excellent underwater skills in the Women's 100m Backstroke to drop under the 58.08 qualifying time in the heats (57.98), before bettering her time again in the final when she pulled away in the second 50m (57.89). Teammate Amber George (Coast - 58.40) produced a massive personal best to win silver, just outside the "A" time for Budapest, ahead of Emma Godwin (Heretaunga Sundevils - 58.98) for bronze.
Gasson was back in action shortly after in the Women's 100m Individual Medley. In the event where she came fifth in world at Melbourne 2022, she dipped under the qualifying time in the heats to secure her second qualifying time in as many races (59.53). Gasson backed it up to win her second gold of the night in the final (59.79), this time just outside the Budapest time. Second on to the wall was Australian visitor Georgia Edwards (1:01.63) with Zyleika Pratt-Smith (Coast - 1:01.72) taking home the New Zealand silver and Sarah Wilson (Vikings - 1:03.35 the bronze.
Zac Dell (Club 37) was another swimmer to claim multiple titles on the first day. Dell (51.70) impressed in his Men's 100m Backstroke to get the bragging rights in a good battle with Cooper Morley (North Shore - 51.89). The two were cut above the field to finish just outside the World Aquatics "A" time, with William Seymour (Nelson South - 54.31) taking home the bronze. Special mention goes to Ariel Muchirahondo (Swim Rotorua - 54.91) for breaking the 15 Years New Zealand Age Record to place fifth.
Dell returned for the Men's 100m Individual Medley to claim his second gold medal of the night. Another close race ensued, with Dell (53.90) getting his hand on the wall first ahead of Sam Brown (54.08) who claimed his second silver of the evening. Ryan Peck (United - 55.61) rounded out the podium to win the close battle for the bronze.
The Women's 200m Breaststroke produced a grandstand finish. The long course New Zealand Record holder, Brearna Crawford (Waitakere) led the race from the start, before Zyleika Pratt-Smith moved her way through during the middle stages. At the final turn, Pratt-Smith looked a winner with Crawford and the closing short course New Zealand Record holder Melissa Cowen (North Shore) making her move to battle it out for the medals. Pratt-Smith (2:23.81) produced a massive personal best to win gold in a time just outside the World Aquatics "A" standard, with Cowen (2:24.30) moving into silver over the final lap ahead of Crawford (2:24.44).
Larn Hamblyn-Ough (Coast - 7:57.76) continued to demonstrate his prowess in Men's 800m Freestyle. The 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games New Zealand team flag bearer was dominant from the start to secure a nearly four seconds personal best with his first time under eight minutes. Australian visitor Lincoln Hurring (8:04.72) was the second to finish, with Joel Verran (Wharenui - 8:12.97) and Luke Kuggeleijn (Nga Tai Tuatea a Taraika - 8:16.92) rounding out the podium.
Sophie Hay (Hamilton Aquatics & RPC Waikato - 16:47.23) demonstrated she is in fine form before she flies out to represent New Zealand at the 2024 World Junior Open Water in Italy next month, by claiming the Kiwi gold in the Women's 1500m Freestyle. Australian visitor Maya Bearman was the fastest of all women, with the 15-year-old clocking an impressive time of 16:38.10. Nina De Coster (St Paul's - 16:50.64) took out the Kiwi silver, with Aquablack Ruby Heath (Neptune & Swim Dunedin - 16:54.58) and Australian visitor Jemma Apps (16:52.06) completing the podium with bronze.
Asher Smith-Franklin (North Shore) continued his record-breaking form in the Men's 100m Individual Medley Multi-Class. He broke his SM14 New Zealand Record in the final to win gold (1:02.24) ahead of James Haydon (Club 37 - 1:08.85). Daniel Smith (Pukekohe - 1:01.97) won the bronze overall in a SM19 New Zealand Record (1:01.97), having broken the record in both heats and finals in the same day.
Smith-Franklin won the Men's 100m Backstroke Multi-Class in another impressive display. The teenager went marginally faster in the evening to win gold (1:05.14). David Beck (Club 37) was strong to win silver (1:08.46) with Guy Harrison (Heretaunga Sundevils - 1:17.29) winning bronze. Special shoutout to Nohorua Kalani (Tasman) who broke the S19 New Zealand Record in both heats and finals to place fifth overall (1:08.48).
Australian visitor Jasmin Fullgrabe showed her class on her first day of racing across the ditch. Fullgrabe took out the visitor gold medal in the Women's 100m Individual Medley Multi-Class (1:15.98). Quinn Pike (Hamilton Aquatics - 1:15.98) secured exactly the same time to break the SM19 New Zealand Record for the second time in the same day and win the Kiwi gold. Australian visitor Jordan Berryman (1:33.67) and Kiwi Chloe Gladwin (Whakatane - 1:16.35) shared the silver step on the podium, with McKenzie Drage (Aquagym - 2:00.69) the bronze.
Fullgrabe (1:17.02) also secured the visitor gold in the Women's 100m Backstroke Multi-Class. Melissa Donoghue (Hamilton Aquatics - 1:58.73) won the Kiwi gold for her performance, with Chloe Gladwin (1:14.54) the silver for her S19 New Zealand Record swim, having also broken in the heats during morning. Charlotte Murphy (Aquagym - 1:59.06), who broke S6 16&U New Zealand Record in the heats, and Brooke Anderson (Vikings - 1:49.12) both shared the bronze with the exact same Multi-Class points result.
As always, the relays at the end of the session had the side of the pool stacked with supporting teammates and the atmosphere cranked up to full volume. The Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay was taken out by Club 37 (3:14.95), with Aquablack Carter Swift just outside his New Zealand Record to get the team a strong lead. North Shore (3:20.19) did enough with a strong finish to win silver ahead of Coast (3:21.03) in bronze. The Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay saw another close battle. South Australia had a strong second half to be runaway winners overall (3:40.34), with the battle for Kiwi placings going down to the wire. North Shore (3:44.73) held on strongly to their early lead to win the gold ahead of Coast (3:45.25) and Hamilton Aquatics (3:53.29) coming home for bronze.
During the age group races in the morning there were some epic battles but so many to report upon. Therefore, we encourage everyone to look back at the livestream available free on the Swimming NZ YouTube channel and check out the results. However, there was one record-breaking swim we wanted to mention. YiFan Zhang (Parnell - 59.33) broke the 13 Years New Zealand Age Record in the Men's 100m Backstroke.
Other notable swims from the heats included Joseph Blake (Hamilton Aquatics - 1:41.73) who broke the SM18 New Zealand Record in the heats of the Men's 100m Individual Medley Multi-Class, Thomas Magill (Papamoa - 10:16.73) who broke the S19 New Zealand Record in the Men's 800m Freestyle, Quinn Pike (3:10.86) who broke the SB19 New Zealand Record in the Women's 200m Breaststroke.
The 4 x 100m Freestyle Multi-Class Relays were another great opportunity for our Multi-Class swimmers to get exposure to relays, with swimmers from clubs across New Zealand and one from Australia joining forces for exhibition teams. The S14 team of James Haydon, Jack Bugler (Blenheim), David Beck and Asher Smith-Franklin broke the S14 New Zealand Record (3:59.88) in the process.
Make sure you are following Swimming NZ social media channels to stay up-to-date with the action across the week. Day two has plenty more exciting races that you don't want to miss.
