2018 Pan Pacs: Kiwi Kid Lewis Clareburt Lowers Own 400 IM Nat Record

2018 PAN PACIFIC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, August 9 – Tuesday, August 14, 2018
• Tokyo Tatsumi International Swimming Center, Tokyo, Japan
• Meet site
• Psych Sheet
• Start Lists
• Meet Results

Although he finished off the podium, young star Lewis Clareburt of New Zealand still made his mark on the men’s 400m IM on day 1 of the Pan Pacific Championships. Claiming his spot in the final by way of a 4:17.93 prelim outing, the 19-year-old Commonwealth swimmer threw down a big 4:14.27 to move up to 5th come tonight’s final. In doing so, he lowered his own national record of 4:14.42 by .15 to continue his groundbreaking journey.

You may remember Clareburt as the Kiwi kid who wound up on the Commonwealth Games podium after only being named as a late addition to the New Zealand roster. At the NZ qualifying meet for those Gold Coast Games, Clareburt missed earning selection in the 400m IM by just .10, but was told by Swimming New Zealand that he might have a chance of still making the team via discretionary selection. As such, Clareburt continued training as if he was going  down under in order to be prepared for the best-case scenario. Then came the call and Clareburt, a multi-medalist at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games, was brought onto the squad.

He took advantage of theopportunity, stealing the bronze in his 4:14.42, a personal best at the time by a whopping 4+ seconds. Establishing a new national mark with his 5th place performance tonight proves his Games performance wasn’t a fluke and the young man deserves to be in the conversation for emerging 400m IMers with the next Summer Olympics just 2 years away.