Swimming New Zealand has announced the 19 athletes selected to represent the Silver Fern from Dec. 10-15 at the 2024 Short Course World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. The selection window was open from July 23-Sept. 30. Qualifying meets included the 2024 Olympics, the 2024 Junior Pan Pacs, the NZ SC Swimming Championships, and the Australian SC Championships.
While Erika Fairweather and Lewis Clareburt, arguably New Zealand’s swimming stars will not attend, the roster still includes two Paris Olympians, Eve Thomas and Hazel Ouwehand. In Paris, Thomas finished 12th in the 800-meter freestyle and 1500-meter freestyle. She also finished 17th in the 200-meter freestyle, just missing the semifinals, and teamed up with Caitlin Deans, Fairweather, and Laticia-Leigh Transom to finish 8th in the women’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay. Ouwehand finished 18th in the 100-meter butterfly.
2016 Olympian Helena Gasson shared in Swimming New Zealand’s press release that these championships will be her final time representing New Zealand on the international stage. This will be Gasson’s second SC World Championships; in 2022, she finished fifth in the 100 IM, a career-bet finish on the Worlds stage. Gasson holds eight individual SC New Zealand records including all three butterfly and IM distances and the 50/100 backstroke.
Beyond the leadership of these three swimmers, this is a young roster. 13 swimmers are making their debut at the SC World Championships. For Sam Brown, Chris Elson, Jack Hendy, and Neve Tassicker this meet will be their debut at a World Aquatics competition. Meanwhile, swimmers like Junior Pan Pac finalists Zoe Pedersen and Milana Tapper make the jump from the junior to senior level, as does Larn Hamblyn-Ough, Savannah-Eve Martin, Zyleika Pratt-Smith, Hugo Wrathall and Amelia Bray.
The coaches named to the team are Michael Weston, John Gatfield, and Willy Benson. Weston coaches six athletes on the roster.
Full Athlete Roster:
| Name | Club | Coach |
| Amelia Bray | North Shore | Sandra Burrow |
| Sam Brown | Coast | Michael Weston |
| Brearna Crawford | Waitakere | Paul Kent |
| Chris Elson | Vikings |
Todd Mason & Roly Crichton
|
| Helena Gasson | Coast | Michael Weston |
| Emma Godwin | Heretaunga Sundevils | Willy Benson |
| Larn Hamblyn-Ough | Coast | Michael Weston |
| Jack Hendy | Club 37 |
Sander Ganzevles
|
| Ben Littlejohn | St Paul’s | Graham Smith |
| Savannah-Eve Martin | Coast | Michael Weston |
| Gina McCarthy | Hamilton Aquatics & RPC Waikato | Mat Woofe |
| Cooper Morley | North Shore | Graham Hill |
| Hazel Ouwehand | Phoenix Aquatics | David Lyles |
| Zoe Pedersen | Coast | John Gatfield |
| Zyleika Pratt-Smith | Coast | Michael Weston |
| Milana Tapper | St Peter’s |
Thomas Fraser-Holmes
|
| Neve Tassicker | Ngā Tai Tūātea a Taraika | David Lush |
| Eve Thomas | Coast | Michael Weston |
| Hugo Wrathall | Jasi | Peter Burgon |
Also Tom Fraser Holmes is at Griffith Uni
St Peter’s is the name of her NZ Club
Isn’t Eve Thomas at St Peters?
Left to go back home to Coast for next campaign.
Also 3 x USA university based swimmers on debut
2 on debut. Good to see them coming through.