Erika Fairweather has rounded out the national championships with a fourth gold medal.
The Dunedin swimmer won the women’s 800m freestyle title in Auckland last night in 8min 18.00sec, just off the New Zealand record of 8min 17.65sec set by Lauren Boyle.
She and bronze medallist, Neptune’s Caitlin Deans (8min 32.87sec), qualified for the world championships later this year. Otago competitors Ruby Heath (9min 01.45sec) and Emilia Finer (9min 16.33sec) were fourth and seventh respectively.
"I’m absolutely stoked," Fairweather said.
"I’ve always been looking forward to the 800 — something a bit new from me, so yeah, couldn’t be happier."
Luan Grobbelaar claimed silver in the men’s 200m individual medley in 2min 02.56sec.
He then joined Esme Paterson, Zac Reid and Lucy McKinnon for the mixed 4x100m medley relay to finish fourth in 4min 05.71sec.
Otago swimmers also boasted success on Tuesday night.
Alexandra swimmer Liam Rees (2min 12.04sec) came seventh.
Kale Twist, who was eighth in the men’s 100m freestyle, set an Otago men’s 18-year-old record in a personal best of 51.20sec.
Paterson won silver in the women’s 200m butterfly in 2min 19.39sec. Finer (2min 25.02sec) finished fifth in a personal-best time, and Nicole Lockie (2min 27.18sec) was sixth.
