Double silver start for Kiwi swimmers in Glasgow
Kiwi swimmers Erika Fairweather and Lewis Clareburt have both begun their Glasgow Commonwealth Games campaigns with silver medal performances in a strong start in the pool.
Fairweather, who won the 400m freestyle world title in 2024, couldn’t add the Commonwealth Games title to her resume after setting the top time in heats. With Canadian rival Summer McIntosh skipping the Games, and Aussie defending champion Ariarne Titmus having retired, the door was open for Fairweather but it was another Aussie who won gold with Lani Pallister the only swimmer to break the four-minute mark.
Clareburt improved on his bronze from four years ago to finish second in the 200m individual medley to claim his fifth career Commonwealth Games medal. He will defend his titles in the 400m IM and 200m butterfly in the coming days.
In the 400m freestyle final, which featured three New Zealanders, Fairweather denied a full Aussie sweep in the medals finishing behind Pallister who won in three minutes 59.56 seconds. Fairweather finished in four minutes 02.65 seconds with Jenna Forrester of Australia in third another three seconds back.
Another Australian Amelia Weber claimed fourth place.
Kiwi Caitlin Deans was sixth with compatriot Eve Thomas eighth.
“I’m super happy that I walk home with a silver medal today,” Fairweather told Sky Sport. “I’m not super happy with the performance overall but the outcome was really great but the performance was not put together very well. I guess I’ll go back to my coach and reassess.”
Scotland’s Duncan Scott gave the home crowd something to cheer about on the opening day in the pool breaking the Games Record to win gold in the 200m individual medley final.
Scott edged Clareburt by 0.39 seconds as the Kiwi finished stronger in the freestyle leg to almost chase down Scott in a personal best. Englishman Thomas Dean took the bronze to complete the same podium from four years ago.
“I’m so happy. Personal best. I was just on the wrong side of the pool. If I was next to Duncan, you never know what could have happened. One better than last time, a PB, a New Zealand record...it’s everything I had,” Clareburt told Sky Sport.
“You traditionally can’t hear anything in the water and I could hear everything,” Clareburt said about the home crowd cheering on Scott.
In the women’s 50m butterfly, Kiwi duo Hazel Ouwehand and Zoe Pedersen both qualified for tomorrow’s final.
In other events, the New Zealand men’s 3x3 basketball lost their opening game to Australia 21-15 before beating Guyana 21-3 and Nigeria 21-10.
In men’s gymnastics Daniel Stoddart placed first overall in his section of the all-round event with 72.850 points, with a first in the rings, seventh in the floor, ninth in the pommel horse, eighth in the parallel bars and third in horizontal bars. He’ll have to wait for the evening session to be completed to see which finals he was qualified for. Teammate Alex Istock was first in the horizontal bars while William Fu-Allen was third in the floor setting up potential finals.
In lawn bowls, the women’s pair of Katelyn Inch and Selina Goddard earned a second win after beating Botswana 9-3, 8-2 however Shannon Mcilroy lost to Irishman Gary Kelly in singles play while Sonya Woodrow and Kerrin Wheeler lost 6-4, 6-2 in their opening match in the visually impaired mixed pairs event.
Boxer Connor Campbell advanced to the next round in the men’s 65kg division after stopping Fijian Ben Maukakala in the second round.
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