2026 NEW ZEALAND SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Wednesday, May 13th – Sunday, May 17th
- Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre
- LCM (50m)
- Meet Central
- Results
- Livestream
Day two of the 2026 New Zealand Swimming Championships unfolded with Olympian Erika Fairweather putting on a powerful display en route to winning the women’s 200m freestyle.
The 22-year-old world champion stopped the clock at an impressive time of 1:55.06 to break her own national record on her way to the gold medal.
After producing a solid morning heats swim of 1:58.75, Fairweather entered an entirely new gear in the final to overtake her former New Zealand benchmark of 1:55.44 logged at the 2023 edition of these championships.
Tonight, Fairweather dominated the field, with Caitlin Deans representing the next-fastest swimmer well over 3 seconds behind in 1:58.71 for silver. Visiting Australian Jade Starr also dipped under the 2:00 barrier in 1:59.59, good enough for bronze.
Comparing Fairweather’s previous and new record-breaking performances, the freestyle ace was simply faster all around during tonight’s feat, including posting a front half of 56.06 to her former early split of 56.37.
| Fairweather’s New NZL 200 Free Record – 1:55.06 | Fairweather’s Old NZL 200 Free Record – 1:55.44 |
| 27.17 | 27.23 |
| 28.89 (56.06) | 29.14 (56.37) |
| 29.96 | 29.93 |
| 29.04 | 29.14 |
Fairweather now represents the 26th-swiftest women’s 200m free performer of all time as she nears the 1:55 threshold. The Kiwi also now ranks 5th in the world on the season.
2025-2026 LCM Women 200 FREE
O'CALLAGHAN
1:53.52
| 2 | Summer MCINTOSH | CAN | 1:53.80 | 03/06 |
| 3 | Siobhan Haughey | HKG | 1:54.13 | 05/28 |
| 4 | Freya COLBERT | GBR | 1:54.34 | 04/16 |
| 5 | Erika Fairweather | NZL | 1:55.06 | 05/14 |
Fairweather’s Individual NZL Records
- LCM 200 free – 1:55.06, 2026
- LCM 400 free – 3:59.44, 2024
- SCM 200 free – 1:52.66, 2025
Exciting PB/and record for Erika. Hoping for 1:54 soon.