Olympian Caitlin Deans grabbed Otago’s first medal at the New Zealand championships last night.
The Neptune swimmer faced a real battle against Olympic relay team-mate Eve Thomas, but Deans prevailed to secure silver in the women’s 800m freestyle final in Auckland.
She finished in 8min 29.32sec, while Thomas (Coast) claimed bronze in 8min 30.00sec.
Former Dunedin swimmer Erika Fairweather, in her first race for new club North Shore since moving to Auckland earlier this year, won gold in 8min 21.67sec.
All three swam under the qualifying mark for the world aquatic championships in Singapore later this year.
Kiwi swimmer Alfie Weatherston-Harvey collected Otago’s second medal, taking bronze in the men’s 1500m final.
The 17-year-old finished in 16min 13.20sec.
Neptune swimmer Emilia Finer was the fourth Kiwi home in the women’s 400m IM in 5min 02.66sec.
She finished fifth overall after visiting athlete Videau Deotille, of Tahiti, claimed silver.
Kiwi Kale Twist finished fifth in the men’s 50m freestyle in 22.85sec and club-mate Liam Rees was seventh in the men’s IM with 4min 49.49sec.
Olympian Hazel Ouwehand was the only swimmer to go under the 1min mark in the women’s 100m butterfly, finishing in 58.81sec.
Esme Paterson (Neptune) was fifth in 1min 01.41sec.
More Otago athletes are back in the pool today for the second day of the championships.
