Fairweather Takes Down Manaudou’s 400 Free Vic Open All Comers Record

2026 VICTORIAN OPEN LC CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Friday, February 13th – Sunday, February 15th
• Melbourne Sports Centres (MSAC) Outdoor Pool
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Psych Sheet
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Recap
• Live Results

Already a victor here in the women’s 800m freestyle with the 4th-best time in the world this season, 22-year-old Erika Fairweather of New Zealand doubled up with gold in the 400m free on day two of the 2026 Vic Open.

North Shore’s Fairweather ripped a big-time result of 4:02.52 to get to the wall first, defeating her competitors by over nine seconds in the process.

Molly Walker touched in 4:11.71 as the silver medalist, while Tara Kinder rounded out the podium in 4:15.98.

As for Fairweather, the freestyle ace’s effort notched a new Victoria All Comers Record, slicing .09 off the 4:02.61 French legend Laure Manaudou established in 2007. The All Comers Record represents the fastest time ever recorded by a swimmer from any nation in the state of Victoria.

Splits for Fairweather’s head-turning mark are as follows:

28.05
58.15 (30.10)
1:28.91 (30.76)
1:59.73 (30.82)
2:30.54 (30.81)
3:01.73 (31.19)
3:32.69 (30.96)
4:02.52 (29.83)

At the 2023 World Championships, Fairweather notched her first-ever time under the 4:00 barrier, hitting 3:59.59 to then become the 5th-best performer in history. That garnered her the bronze medal there in Budapest.

The Olympic finalist upped the ante at the 2024 World Championships in Doha, where she was event swifter, stopping the clock at 3:59.44 to become the world champion.

She placed a painstaking 4th in this 400m free at the Paris Olympics, hitting 4:01.12 to fall less than half a second off the podium.

Fairweather’s time here ranks as the 12th-best of her career and ranks the Kiwi 6th in the world at the moment.