2025 NEW ZEALAND SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, May 21st – Sunday, May 25th
- Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre
- Meet Central
- Swimming NZL World Championships Selection Criteria
- Entries/Results
- Livestream
The 2025 New Zealand Swimming Championships kicked off today with swimmers vying for a chance to represent the nation at this summer’s World Championships.
According to the Swimming New Zealand World Championships Selection Criteria, this five-day competition may not represent the sole opportunity for the athletes to make the grade. ‘Any World Aquatics approved meet that has been sanctioned by it for the purpose of selection within the qualification period (February 14, 2025 – May 25, 2025) can be considered a selection event,’ read the criteria.
That means some swimmers are missing from these championships, including Olympic finalist Lewis Clareburt who recently competed at the Mare Nostrum stop in Monaco.
Olympian and world champion Erika Fairweather is competing here, however, and today took on the women’s 800m freestyle.
21-year-old Fairweather of North Shore stopped the clock at a time of 8:21.67 to get to the wall nearly 8 seconds ahead of her competitors.
Neptune Swim Club’s Caitlin Dean secured silver in 8:29.32 while 24-year-old Eve Thomas rounded out the podium in 8:30.00.
As for Fairweather, her outing here represents a season-best, overtaking the 8:23.19 established at last month’s Australian Open Championships. She remains the 6th-fastest woman in the world this season.
Both she and Dean easily cleared the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 8:34.62 needed to qualify for the World Championships, with Dean’s performance representing a new personal best by over 3 seconds.
2024-2025 LCM Women 800 Free
LEDECKY
WR 8:04.12
| 2 | Summer MCINTOSH | CAN | 8:09.86 | 02/13 |
| 3 | Lani PALLISTER | AUS | 8:18.71 | 04/21 |
| 4 | Yang Peiqi | CHN | 8:19.45 | 03/19 |
| 5 | Isabel Gose | GER | 8:20.42 | 05/04 |
Although he missed the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 22.05 needed for the World Championships, 19-year-old Harrison Klouwens put up a fight in the men’s 50m freestyle with a big-time career-best performance.
After registering a time of 22.31 to nab the top seed out of the heats, the Club 37 athlete fired off a final result of 22.16 to get to the wall first in the main event. That destroyed his previous best-ever outing of 22.95 notched just this past February at the Victorian Open Championships.
The teen now represents New Zealand’s 3rd-quickest man in history in the 50m free.
Top 5 New Zealand Men’s LCM 50 Freestyle Performers All-Time
- Taiko Torepe-Ormsby – 21.86, 2024
- Michael Pickett – 22.11, 2023
- Harrison Klouwens – 22.16, 2025
- Daniel Hunter – 22.27, 2019
- Cameron Gray – 22.33, 2023
Additional Notes
- Georgina McCarthy topped the women’s 400m IM podium in a time of 4:45.67, within striking distance of her PB of 4:44.32 from 2 years ago.
- 23-year-old Chelsey Edwards was too quick to catch in the women’s 50m free, posting 25.16 as the gold medalist. 32-year-old Laura Quilter snagged silver in 25.26 while Zoe Pedersen produced a new New Zealand Age Record for 18-year-olds with a bronze medal-worthy 25.44.
- National record holder Hazel Ouwehand fell short of World Championships qualification in the women’s 100m fly. The Phoenix Aquatics ace turned in a time of 58.81 as the sole sub-minute performer of the final; however, she’s been as fast as 57.43 from last year.
- Louis Clark topped the men’s 1500m freestyle pack with a time of 15:25.62, the only result under the 16:00 threshold.
