Fairweather top qualifier for final

Erika Fairweather
Erika Fairweather
Erika Fairweather will take plenty of confidence from tonight’s performance.

The Dunedin swimmer put on an impressive display to beat Canadian prodigy Summer McIntosh in her 400m freestyle heat at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

She eventually touched the wall in 4min 07.27sec, qualifying first for tomorrow morning's final, scheduled for 7.48am (NZ time).

Fairweather trailed McIntosh most of the way, but did not let her pull away.

She stuck by the Canadian, before kicking on the final lap, boosting past her to win the race by 0.09sec.

Fairweather, who made the final in this event at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, is chasing her first Commonwealth Games medal.

Australian star Ariarne Titmus will be her biggest contender, alongside McIntosh.

The Olympic champion will have plenty more to give in the final, looking to have been saving energy as she cruised to win her heat in 4min 08.25sec.

Fellow star Lani Pallister also cruised to a time of 4min 09.77sec, finishing second to Titmus in the final heat.

New Zealander Eve Thomas also reached the final, finishing in 4min 11.50sec to qualify seventh.

It followed Fairweather’s fifth-place in the 200m freestyle over the weekend, in which she finished in a personal best 1min 58.18sec.

Earlier tonight Lewis Clareburt finished second in his 200m IM heat, his time of 2min 01.12sec qualifying him sixth for the final.