New Zealand swimmer Erika Fairweather has a historic hat-trick of bronze medals after competing at the Pan Pacific Championships, which finished in Irvine, California on Sunday.
She became just the second New Zealander to get three medals at one championship after Lauren Boyle in 2014; and has amassed an astonishing 15 medals at top level competitions at just 22 years of age.
Fairweather contested finals with a trio of the world’s greatest swimmers at a meeting with top swimmers from the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan and other non-European countries, shortly after getting five medals at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The Pan Pacific Championships returned for the first time in eight years after the 2022 edition was cancelled because of Covid-19.
After getting her medal haul, Fairweather said her focus was on getting a competitive edge, which includes striving for personal best times and good placings.
All three of her top competitors are world record holders. They also entered multiple events, but the 400m freestyle was the only event all three contested together, and that’s Fairweather’s key event.
To medal in the 400m freestyle, Fairweather had to finish ahead of either defending champion Katie Ledecky, Commonwealth champion Lani Pallister from Australia, or world record holder Summer McIntosh. She benefited when McIntosh misjudged her stroke in the heats and missed the A-final by one place, despite being expected to contend for gold.
Fairweather subsequently secured a comfortable bronze medal behind Ledecky, with Pallister leading from start to finish; the only athlete under four minutes. It was the first time Pallister has headed off Ledecky. McIntosh won the B final in a time that would have placed third in the A final.
Two hours later, Fairweather led off the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay with a 100m freestyle lifetime best, joining Chelsey Edwards, Zoe Pedersen and Milan Glintmeyer to finish fourth. The quartet set a national record of 3:38.38 seconds, a time that would have secured a Commonwealth Games medal had Swimming New Zealand entered that relay there. It was New Zealand’s best relay result at a Pan Pacific championship.
Fairweather also set a national record of 1:55.05 seconds in the 200m freestyle, which was without Olympic and Commonwealth champion Mollie O’Callaghan, who has an ongoing back injury. Fairweather built her race well to comfortably place third, matching her placing at Glasgow. Pallister won ahead of McIntosh, after a back-and-forth battle, for her first big international win in this distance, with both swimming under the championship record, and well ahead of the field.
Later that day, Caitlin Deans set a lifetime best of 16:07.44 seconds for fifth in the 1500m freestyle. She has now lowered her lifetime best by more than 10 seconds since the 2024 world championships. Ledecky comfortably won that event ahead of Pallister, maintaining her unbroken winning streak; she has been undefeated in a 1500m event since she was a 13-year-old. Pallister set an Oceania record for second.
Deans is now one of just three Aquablacks this season to swim under standards that would qualify outright for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics; the other two are Lewis Clareburt and Fairweather.
Deans and Fairweather both contested the 800m freestyle with Pallister and Ledecky yesterday, with the podium being the same as the 400m freestyle. Fairweather was fourth with 50m to go but finished well to get her third bronze medal, in 8:18.61 seconds. She was well behind Pallister, who headed off world record holder Ledecky once again by more than a second. It was Ledecky’s first 800m freestyle defeat in a major international meet.
Twelve years ago, at the 2014 Pan Pacific championships, Pallister watched her mother, Olympian Janelle Elford, present Ledecky with an 800m freestyle gold medal; now Pallister has gone on to defeat her. She won in a championship record of 8:06.10 seconds, quicker than her winning Glasgow time (8:11.12). But Fairweather was six seconds faster than her silver medal performance at Glasgow, and it was that improvement that led to this medal.
Deans set her third lifetime best since the start of the Commonwealth Games for seventh, just 0.08 seconds outside the top six. She is now quick enough to contest a world championship final with Fairweather, which she will be hoping to do next year.
“It was a nice way to finish what has been a long season,” Fairweather says. “I couldn’t be happier and I’m really excited for a bit of a holiday before getting back into training when I get home.”
Backstroker Amber George and butterfly swimmer Zoe Pedersen also contested A finals, and Clareburt was sixth in the 400m individual medley.
Swimming New Zealand Head Coach Graham Hill paid tribute to the team.
“The team has delivered some really strong results. They’ve swum with heart and shown us they can stand up against the best in the world.
“Erika coming away with three medals is a big highlight, and we’ve got a great platform to build on towards LA 2028.”
