2023 NEW ZEALAND OPEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, April 1st – Wednesday, April 5th
- Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Center, Auckland, New Zealand
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- Selection Criteria
- Meet Site
- Psych Sheets
- Day 1 Recap
The biggest swim on day three of the 2023 New Zealand Open Championships came from Erika Fairweather in the 400 free. She hit a 4:00.62 to break the national record and become the 6th-fastest woman in history. You read more about that swim here.
In the men’s 400 freestyle, Zac Reid had the fastest time by more than four seconds when he posted a 3:47.87 to win gold in the event. That swim from Reid was right around his personal best of 3:47.74 from 2021 and got him under the World Championships qualifying standard of 3:48.15. Reid qualified to race the
He was the only man to qualify for the team in this event as Lewis Clareburt trialed slightly with a 3:52.10 and Louis Clark took third place with a 3:56.94. Clareburt has already qualified for Worlds this year in the 400 IM and trailed his best time from 2021 at the New Zealand Championships of 3:48.62. Clareburt returned later in the session to win the 100 butterfly, but also missed the FINA A cut there with a 52.54 compared to the 51.96 it would take to auto-qualify.
After nearing the 100 backstroke national record on day two of this meet with a sub-FINA A 53.57, Andrew Jeffcoat collected another gold medal in the 50 backstroke with a 24.85. Jeffcoat was a bit over his own New Zealand record in the 50 backstroke of 24.65 from the 2022 Commonwealth Games and he cleared the FINA A standard of 25.16. His fellow medalists Zac Dell and Finn Harland touched just 0.01 seconds apart with a 25.66 and 25.67, respectively.
Gabi Fa’amausili won the women’s 50 backstroke but did not swim under the qualifying standard for World Championships of 28.22. She hit a 28.43 for the gold medal to out-touch Hazel Ouwehand who set a new national record one day prior with a 26.12 in the 50 fly. Fa’amausili’s time in the final was a bit quicker than her entry time of 28.84 and her prelims swim of 28.75. Emma Godwin got onto the 50 backstroke podium as well with her swim of 29.00 for bronze.
In addition to her 50 backstroke silver, Ouwehand touched first in the 100 butterfly on day three with a 58.62, out-touching Amelia Bray (1:01.52) by nearly three seconds. Other event winners on day three included Josh Gilbert in the men’s 200 breaststroke with a 2:12.43 and Melissa Cowen in the women’s with a 2:31.16.
Multi-class event gold medals on the third night of racing went to David Beck (4:44.18) in the men’s 400 freestyle, Lili-Fox Mason (1:14.38) in the women’s 100 butterfly, Cameron Leslie (42.64) in the men’s 50 back, Rylee Sayer (42.20) in the women’s 50 back, Asher Smith-Franklin (1:02.35) in the men’s 100 butterfly, and Ella Benn (5:09.04) in the women’s 400 freestyle.