Swift By Name, Swift By Nature
The final day of racing at the 2024 Apollo Projects NZ Short Course Swimming Championships saw some of the sprinters on the blocks, mixed with some of the distance events and the mixed relays to draw the curtain on a fantastic five days of competition in Auckland.
The Men’s 50m Freestyle was the event on the programme, with the NZ Record holder Cameron Gray ready for another showdown with Aquablack Carter Swift (Club 37). Swift was away powerfully off the blocks in trademark fashion to lead at the only turn. Gray pulled out his underwater skills to close the gap coming into the last 10m. There was little separating them, but it was Swift (21.60) who took the bragging rights this time ahead of Gray (21.67) and Kale Twist (Kiwi – 22.01). The close race saw the top five swimmers all achieving the World Aquatics “B” time for Budapest.
Later in the evening, Swift was back in action leading off the Mixed 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay for Club 37. Swift exploded from the gun and left the field in his wake as he dropped the fastest time ever swum by a Kiwi, lowering that mark by 0.29 seconds (46.88) and achieving the World Aquatics “A” time. Helena Gasson (Coast) closed the gap in the third leg of the relay to take the lead at the final transition. Oceania Champs medallist Jesse Welsh (Club 37) had a tall order reeling in Aquablack Laura Quilter (Coast) but wore down Quilter over the 100m distance to anchor Club 37 to victory (3:26.84). Coast (3:27.38) came home with silver, with Swimming Queensland (3:31.98) and North Shore (3:33.36) sharing the bronze.
Swift credited his lightning lead-off to getting his team off to the best possible start.
“It was just getting up for the team. I just love having fun and love racing and there is nothing better than getting out there with your club mates that you grind every day with so I’m pretty stoked with that.”
Chelsey Edwards (North Shore) produced another World Aquatics “B” time in the Women’s 50m Freestyle. Improving slightly from her morning heat swim, Edwards was the fastest swimmer in the field from the start. The 23-year-old put the head down and powered toward the wall to touch just 0.13 seconds outside the “A” time (24.57). Brittany Castelluzzo (Australia – 24.75) capped off her excellent week with another visitor silver, ahead of fellow Australian Ellysia Oldsen (25.08). Emma Godwin (Heretaunga Sundevils – 25.11) and Laura Quilter (25.19) rounded out the podium.
Edwards was in good spirits after the race.
“I’m pretty happy with that. I just tried to keep a relaxed mindset going into that, it’s the best thing you can do going into a 50m.”
Gina McCarthy (Hamilton Aquatics & RPC Waikato) was narrowly outside the World Aquatics “A” time in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley. The 22-year-old produced a big personal best time (2:10.74) to win the final. McCarthy made her move in the backstroke, before holding her own against strong breaststrokers Brearna Crawford (Waitakere) and Zyleika Pratt-Smith (Coast) and turning for home in the freestyle leg. Pratt-Smith (2:12.88) had more in the tank over the final 50m for the silver and Crawford (2:13.03) pipped on the wall to take the bronze.
Sam Brown (Coast) was back in action in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley. Having had a career best week, Brown continued in that manner to win gold with a personal best (1:57.08) in a “B” time. Kevin Zhang (Roskill – 1:58.52) set the early pace in the butterfly, looking strong across each of the strokes and motoring home to a massive 3.5 seconds personal best across the day and breaking the 17 Years NZ Age Record previously held by Bradlee Ashby from 2013. Blair Helms (North Shore – 2:00.31) rounded out the podium.
Larn Hamblyn-Ough (Coast – 15:21.98) was comprehensive in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle, setting a massive personal best by dropping about 15 seconds to help prove his form before jetting off to Italy as a member of our World Junior Open Water team. Luke Kuggeleijn (Nga Tai Tuatea a Taraika – 15:52.14) won the silver medal with 16-year-old Alfie Weatherston Harvey (Kiwi & Swim Dunedin – 15:56.48) getting himself on the open podium for the first time with bronze.
Aquablack Ruby Heath (Neptune & Swim Dunedin – 8:41.77) took out another national title in the Women’s 800m Freestyle. The open water specialist has had a good week in Auckland engaging in some good battles with up-and-coming youngster Olivia Emmett (Club 37 – 8:43.15), with Heath taking the honours on this occasion. Molly Walker (Australia – 8:38.24) was the fastest overall and Nina De Coster (St Paul’s – 8:44.91) winning the Kiwi bronze.
One of the highlights of the night was the Mixed 4 x 100m Medley Relay Multi-Class. Still a new addition on the schedule, the opportunity to have our classified swimmers participate in relay swimming was extremely popular from the exhibition teams created. The first team on the wall was the S14 Open (4:33.22) team consisting of David Beck (Club 37), James Haydon (Club 37), Asher Smith-Franklin (North Shore) and Jack Bugler (Blenheim), smashing their S14 NZ Record from last year by more than half a minute. Other teams were able to set a mark to be challenged in the future, with many classifications having vacant records given the recently introduced opportunity.
James Haydon (27.09) completed an excellent week with a gold medal in the Men’s 50m Freestyle Multi-Class. Luke Willems (Wharenui – 36.65) won silver in a S18 NZ Record, breaking the mark set by Joseph Blake (Hamilton Aquatics) in the heats. Blake (36.86) was hot on his heels in the final to claim the bronze. Daniel Smith (Pukekohe – 25.22) also broke his S19 NZ Record to finish fourth.
Rylee Sayer (Matamata – 37.36) was the gold medallist in the Women’s 50m Freestyle Multi-Class, joined on the podium by Melissa Donoghue (Hamilton Aquatics – 43.42) with a S18 NZ Record and teammate Quinn Pike (Hamilton Aquatics – 30.08) with a S19 NZ Record.
Asher Smith-Franklin put a full stop on another eye-catching week, with the 18-year-old winning the Men’s 200m Individual Medley. It was a good race between him and Daniel Smith (2:16.52) as he broke another SM19 NZ Record (twice in the day) to win silver, with Ian Chen (St Paul’s – 2:23.09) claiming the bronze.
Chloe Gladwin (Whakatane – 2:39.55) broke the SM19 NZ Record in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley Multi-Class on her way to the Kiwi gold. Jasmin Fullgrabe (Australia – 2:43.36) capped off a fine week across the ditch with another impressive display for gold, with fellow country-woman Jordan Berryman (3:24.59) the visitor silver and Charlotte Murphy (Aquagym – 4:25.64) the Kiwi silver in a S6 16&U NZ Record time, achieving the feat twice in the day.
The Mixed 4 x 100m Medley Relay was a great way to round out the championships, with the tactics and relay order always creating an exciting climax. Coast (3:46.61) were dominant to win ahead of North Shore (3:50.60) in silver, South Australia (3:51.60) the visitor bronze and United (3:57.40) with the Kiwi bronze.
Catch up on any of the action from the championships by watching the livestream on demand or reviewing the results available from the links below.
