Lewis Clareburt Named New Zealand Swimmer of the Year

Swimming New Zealand has named Lewis Clareburt as their 2019 Swimmer of the Year after winning a bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships in the 400 IM.

His 4:12.07 in the 400 IM final at the World Championships broke the New Zealand Record, and made Clareburt just the 5th swimmer in New Zealand history to win a medal at a FINA Championship event (and 11th-ever medal).

Clareburt was chosen from among the 4 winners of the minor Swimmer of the Yeara honors: Para Swimmer, Domestic Swimmer, and International Swimmer, as the overall winner. He also earned International Swimmer of the Year honors.

Sophie Pascoe won the Para-Swimmer of the Year award. That marked her 4th-straight such award and 8th overall. Her year included winning 4 IPC Swimming World Championships in the S9 category.

Two swimmers were honored with the Domestic Swimmer of the Year award for swimmers that performed the best at long course and short course meets in New Zealand. Helena Gasson was honored after breaking 7 New Zealand Open Short Course Records at the 2019 New Zealand Short Course Championships.

She shares the award with Erika Fairweather, who among other accomplishments broke Rebecca Perrott’s 43-year old 400 freestyle age group record at the New Zealand National Age Group Championships.

Ross Gillespie was named the Technical Official of the Year after being just the 2nd New Zealand Technical Official to be a referee at a FINA Open Water World Championships; and the team’s named Olympic team head coach Lars Humer was named Coach of the Year.

The awards were originally meant to be given out this week at the New Zealand National Championships and Olympic Trials this week. After that meet was canceled due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the awards were announced on the organization’s Facebook page instead.

All Award Winners

Acceptance Speeches

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About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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