Dunedin's dynamite duo have broken yet another New Zealand record on the world stage.
Erika Fairweather and Caitlin Deans teamed with Laticia Transom and Eve Thomas to set a national record of 7min 53.02sec when finishing fifth in the 4x200m freestyle relay at the world championships yesterday morning.
Fairweather, who has already won silver in the 200m freestyle and gold in the 400m freestyle, led the group in stunning fashion, clocking 1min 56.37sec for her split.
Transom (1min 58.41sec), Thomas (1min 58.65sec) and Deans (1min 59.59sec), who replaced Summer Osborne from the heats, followed on to bring the team home.
All swimmers produced under two-minute splits in the final, helping New Zealand qualify for the event at the Olympics later this year.
"We were all absolutely stoked with that swim," Deans said.
"To be competitive in a world champs final is something we’ve all been working towards, so to experience that ... was really special.
"Nothing compares to the enjoyment a relay swim brings.
"Being in the call room all together is always such a fun time, and then to walk out on pool deck together, and put it all out there for each other is incomparable."
China claimed gold (7min 47.26sec), Great Britain (7min 50.90sec) took silver and Australia bronze (7min 51.41sec).
New Zealand lowered the national record they set in the heats when they swam 7min 54.97sec.
Swimming New Zealand Olympic pathway lead Gary Francis was proud of their result.
"To break the New Zealand record in qualification and then again in the final is huge and you really couldn’t ask anything more of these athletes," Francis said.
Fairweather last night qualified third-fastest for the women’s 800m freestyle final, after finishing her heat in 8min 28.15sec.
Fellow Kiwi Eve Thomas was fourth-fastest in 8min 29.30sec, also qualifying for the final.
They will both swim in the final at 6.23am tomorrow.
