2025 New Zealand SC Championships: Multiple Records Bite The Dust

2025 NEW ZEALAND SC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, September 20th – Thursday, September 25th
• Sir Owen G. Glenn Aquatic Centre, Auckland, New Zealand,
• SCM (25m)
• Results

More than 700 athletes descended upon the Sir Owen G. Glenn Aquatic Centre in Auckland for this past week’s New Zealand Short Course Championships.

Multiple national records fell over the course of the six-day competition, as Olympians battled rising stars in the quest for national titles ahead of this month’s World Aquatics Swimming World Cup.

Visiting South African Rebecca Meder made a dent in multiple women’s events, with the 23-year-old Olympian kicking off her campaign with a victory in the 200m breaststroke.

Meder touched the wall in a time of 2:18.71 as the sole competitor of the field to dip under the 2:20 barrier.

Meder’s result was within striking distance of her lifetime best, a mark of 2:18.26 put up at the 2024 World Aquatics Short Course Championships. It was also just shy of the South African national record of 2:18.02, which Olympic champion Tatjana Smith (nee Shoenmaker) established at the 2020 edition of this competition.

Behind Meder in the event was Coast swimmer Zyleika Pratt-Smith, the 21-year-old who ripped a fresh New Zealand national record with her silver medal-worthy result of 2:23.15.

Splitting 14.61/17.57/17.69/17.90/18.22/18.46/19.18/19.52, Pratt-Smith shaved .32 off the previous NZL national record of 2:23.47, which Melissa Cowen put on the books in 2020.

Meder also wreaked havoc in the women’s 50m fly, where she topped the podium in a result of 25.81.

However, the South African wasn’t alone, as Hazel Ouwehand touched the gold medalist simultaneously, with Zoe Pedersen capturing bronze in 26.39.

Additional victories by Meder included the women’s 100m fly, where she notched an effort of 56.86 as the sole sub-57-second performer of the field.

Her result shattered her previous PB of 57.93 from 2022, rendering her South Africa’s third-fastest performer in history.

Meder also topped the women’s 50m breast podium in 29.95, although runner-up Monique Wieruszowski clocked a new Kiwi national record for 18-year-olds of 30.68 as the silver medalist.

Finally, Meder captured 100m breast gold in 1:04.78 with silver medalist Brearna Crawford nabbing a new New Zealand national record of 1:06.54 en route to silver.

Splitting 14.34/17.13/17.29/17.78, Crawford’s 1:06.54 outing surpassed the previous NZL national standard of 1:06.60 she turned in remarkably 5 years ago.

Olympic teammates Erika Fairweather and Lewis Clareburt also made their presences known over the course of the competition, nailing multiple golds to expand their resumes.

As for Clareburt, the 26-year-old reaped gold in the men’s 100m IM, posting a time of 53.64.

That narrowly beat United swimmer Cameron Gray, who touched in 53.77 as the only other finalist under the 54-second threshold.

21-year-old Coast swimmer Sam Brown rounded out the podium in 54.41.

Clareburt also reaped gold in the 400m IM, notching a result of 4:05.14 to beat the field by over 9 seconds.

Finally, Clareburt exerted his dominance by taking the men’s 200m free in 1:43.39, a time just a hair off his lifetime best and NZL national record of 1:43.21 established during last year’s World Cup.

Cameron Gray secured silver in 1:44.68 and Oscar Kreutzberger of New South Wales was the next-quickest in 1:47.77.

Post-race, Clareburt commented, “It was a good little battle there with Cam. I knew he was going to go out fast so I tried to stay with him and keep enough in the tank to go over that last 75m.

“I didn’t think I’d be that close to my record, so that’s pretty cool and definitely a good sign.”

Olympic finalist and World Championships gold medalist Fairweather held on for gold in the women’s 800m free, hitting 8:11.32 for gold.

That narrowly defeated Neptune’s Caitlin Deans, who snagged silver in 8:11.80, a world ahead of bronze medal-winner Emilia Finer who bagged the bronze in 8:43.28.

This same trio landed in the same spots for the 400m free podium.

In that shorter event, Fairweather put up a time of 3:57.88 to handily take the gold,

Deans was next to the wall in 4:00.18 while Finer also landed on the podium in 4:13.61.

Fairweather’s additional victories came in the 400m IM and 200m free as she exerted her dominance in spades.

In the former, Fairweather hit 4:35.14 to take the race by over a second while in the latter she notched 1:54.25 as the only swimmer in the final field to delve under the 1:55 barrier.

As for the 4IM, Fairweather told The New Zealand Swimming Federation, “It’s a bit of a side quest for me at the moment. I’m really enjoying doing some training that’s different from freestyle stuff and it’s a good challenge.”

Additional Notes

• 20-year-old Coast swimmer Amber George got to the wall first in the women’s 100m back, producing a time of 58.26. That held off Ouwehand, who settled for silver just .11 behind in 58.37. Of note, Milan Glintmeyer hit a new NZL Age Record for 17-year-olds of 58.92 as she clinched bronze.
• George later produced a new senior national record of 26.60 en route to claiming gold in the women’s 50m back. She held off 19-year-old Coast swimmer Savannah-Eve Martin, who snagged silver in 26.77 while Sarah Bennett of Australia rounded out the podium in 27.55.
• Meder also topped the women’s 100m IM podium, logging 58.40 as the only competitor of the pack to delve under the minute barrier.
• The men’s 50m fly saw 24-year-old Alex Quach of Australia get the job done for gold in 22.83, the only time of the final under 23 seconds.
• Quach also wound up on top of the men’s 100m fly, turning in a result of 49.90 to beat Clareburt’s runner-up result of 51.63. Post-race, Quach said, “It’s incredible to go under 50 for the first time, it’s been a huge dream of mine. I’ve been swimming well and I’m having a really good meet. I love it here, New Zealand’s great and I’m enjoying the cooler weather.”

Quotes courtesy of the New Zealand Swimming Federation.